Baptists 
Mobilized 

for 
Missions 

A.  L.  VAIL 


n 


BV  2520  .V3  1911 
Vail,  Albert  L.  1844-1935 
Baptists  mobilized  for 
missions 


BAPTISTS  MOBILIZED  FOR  MISSIONS 


Baptists 
Mobilized  for  Missions 


By  y 

ALBERT  L.  VAIL 

Author 
•THE  MORNING  HOUR  OF  AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONS" 


Philadelphia 

American  Baptist  Publication  Society 

Boston  Chicago  St.  Louis 

Toronto,  Can. 


Copyright  1911  by 
A.  J.  ROWLAND,  Secretary 


Published  June,  1911 


THE  HISTORICAL  PREVIEW 


This  book  attempts  to  trace  the  history  of  combina- 
tion among  American  Baptists  for  missionary  pur- 
poses. Substantially  this  implies  the  parallel  proc- 
esses for  all  other  purposes.  Baptists  have  neces- 
sarily followed  the  same  general  lines  in  all  their 
attempts  to  work  together,  because  those  lines  have 
been  determined  by  fundamental  principles  common 
to  all  of  them  and  applicable  to  all  situations.  The 
two  basal  principles  bearing  on  the  movements  now 
to  be  held  in  view  are  individualism,  involving  local 
independence,  and  fellowship  in  co-operation.  The 
central  problem  has  been  and  now  is  to  preserve  the 
liberty  of  a  radical  democracy,  and  secure  at  the 
same  time  the  highest  efficiency  on  the  widest  fields. 
The  solution  of  this  problem  is  not  so  easy  prac- 
tically as  it  is  theoretically.  The  attempt  to  adjust 
has  not  always  been  consistent ;  and  particularly, 
sensitiveness  for  individualism  and  its  liberties,  with 
the  involved  suspicion  of  centralized  authority  and 
all  tendencies  toward  it,  has  nm  a  fluctuating  survey 
through  the  whole  course.  Our  purpose  is  to  follow 
the  survey,  observe  its  involutions  and  advances, 
and  gather  from  the  whole  such  suggestions  for  the 
illumination   of   the   co-operative   problems   of   the 

5 


6  THE    HISTORICAL   PREVIEW 

present  and  the  future  as  our  eyes  may  open  to 
see.  This  purpose  sets  aside,  at  once  and  entirely, 
all  details  of  field  operations,  a  multitude  of  things 
that  would  be  legitimate  or  essential  in  a  history  of 
missions.  It  also  eliminates  all  issues  of  adminis- 
trative organization  except  such  limitedly  as  may 
seem  to  bear  so  close  relations  to  the  main  problem 
as  justly  to  give  them  claim  on  our  attention.  The 
spinal  cord  of  our  investigation  is  authoritative  con- 
stituency. Involved  in  this  or  tributary  to  it  are 
various  questions  concerning  the  basis  of  constitu- 
ency, the  relations  of  the  constituents  to  any  and  all 
agencies  employed  for  effectuating  their  designs,  and 
in  general  whatever  throws  light  on  the  central 
problem. 

The  author's  book,  "  The  Morning  Hour  of  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Missions,"  treats  the  topic  of  this  book 
in  the  formative  years,  as  one  element  of  the  mis- 
sionary history  of  the  denomination  prior  to  1815. 
The  founding  of  the  General  Convention  for  For- 
eign Missions  (commonly  called  the  Triennial)  was 
the  culmination  of  that  process  and  at  the  same  time 
a  revolution  away  from  it.  Equally,  it  was  the  basis 
of  all  that  followed,  both  in  conflict  and  construc- 
tion. Taking  "  The  Morning  Hour  "  as  our  guide, 
we  find  that  the  earlier  Baptist  missionary  combina- 
tions were  a  growth,  involving  the  individual,  the 
church  and  the  Association,  in  various  adjustments, 
until  the  missionary  societies  arose.  These  so- 
cieties began  with  a  resumption  of  the  individual 


THE    HISTORICAL    PREVIEW  7 

basis,  and  they,  so  based,  became  the  foundation 
of  the  larger  structure  that  appeared  in  1814.  Sub- 
stantially all  that  can  now  be  known  of  that  earlier 
history  is  in  ''  The  Morning  Hour."  The  knowledge 
of  it  is  essential  to  the  most  perfect  understanding 
of  the  day  that  followed  that  dawn  throughout  the 
nineteenth  century  and  into  the  twentieth,  as  ap- 
pearing in  the  following  pages.  This  book  takes  up 
this  one  element  where  the  other  left  it,  and  carries 
it  through  to  the  present  time. 

The  analysis  of  the  materials  used  is  not  alto- 
gether easy  or  satisfactory  on  any  plan,  but  the 
arrangement  adopted  seems  on  the  whole  the  most 
appropriate,  that  is :  To  carry  through  separately  six 
main  lines  of  development,  placed  in  the  order  of 
their  beginnings — the  Triennial  Convention  and  the 
Missionary  Union,  the  State  Conventions  at  their 
origins,  the  Tract-Publication  Society,  the  Home 
Mission  Society,  the  Southern  Convention,  and  the 
Northern  Convention.  The  first  two  are  treated  as 
one  because  they  were  peculiarly  one  in  fact,  being 
a  continuous  life  under  two  names  and  constitu- 
tions ;  also  because  their  line  is  preeminent  in  the 
volume  and  intensity  of  its  conflicts,  and  in  its  con- 
structive significance  in  the  realm  of  combination. 
The  general  issues  were  fought  out  and  wrought  out 
in  those  two,  from  18 14  to  1900,  with  unequaled 
fulness.  This  fact  seems  to  the  writer  to  warrant 
the  position  given  them  and  the  space  they  occupy. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

I.  The  Triennial  Convention 9 

II.  The    American    Baptist    Missionary 

Union 28 

III.  The  State  Conventions 46 

IV.  The    American    Baptist    Publication 

Society 60 

V.  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  So- 
ciety    dy 

VI.  The  Southern  Baptist  Convention..  80 

VII.  The  Northern  Baptist  Convention..  89 

VIII.  Doctrinal   104 

IX.  Practical    142 

Notes  157 


BAPTISTS  MOBILIZED 
FOR  MISSIONS 


THE  TRIENNIAL   CONVENTION 

"  Delegates  from  associated  bodies  of  the  Baptist 
denomination  formed  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing  evangelic  Hght 
through  benighted  regions  of  the  earth,"  met  in 
Philadelphia,  May  i8,  1814.  They  organized  "  The 
General  ^Missionary  Convention  of  the  Baptist  De- 
nomination in  the  United  States  of  America  for 
Foreign  Missions."  Although  the  name  does  not 
indicate  home  missions  and  ministerial  education, 
both  were  anticipated  by  the  founders  whenever  the 
way  for  them  should  open. 

Article  II  of  the  constitution  originally  stood  as 
follows:  "A  triennial  Convention  shall,  hereafter, 
be  held,  consisting  of  Delegates,  not  exceeding  two 
in  number,  from  each  of  the  several  missionary 
societies,  and  other  religious  bodies  of  the  Baptist 
denomination,  now  existing,  or  which  hereafter  may 

9 


lO  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

be  formed  in  the  United  States,  and  which  shall 
each,  regularly,  contribute  to  the  general  Missionary 
Fund,  a  sum  amounting,  at  least,  to  one  hundred 
dollars  per  annum." 

That  churches  are  here  understood  to  be  included 
among  the  other  "  religious  bodies  of  the  Baptist 
denomination  "  seems  evident  from  the  next  article, 
where  provision  is  made  that  the  Board  shall  be 
composed  of  "  members  of  the  said  societies, 
churches,  or  other  religious  bodies  aforesaid." 
And  the  inference  is  justified  that  churches  are 
introduced  here  as  they  are  because  the  Convention 
thought  of  them  as  standing  first  as  missionary 
organizations  after  those  societies  which  were  ex- 
clusively missionary.  The  constitution,  then,  placed 
the  Convention's  constituency  solely  in  Baptist  or- 
ganizations, and  ranked  these  in  the  order  of  mis- 
sionary societies,  churches  and  others,  miscellane- 
ous, all  such  as  were  operating  for  the  promotion 
of  any  enterprise  of  the  denomination. 

In  confirmation  and  exposition  of  this  understand- 
ing, a  decisive  document  appears.  Immediately  on 
the  adjournment  of  the  Convention,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  the  design  in  appointing  Luther  Rice 
as  the  chief  promoter  of  the  whole  movement,  that 
energetic  agent  put  forth  his  sinewy  hand  to  grasp 
all  helping  hands  everywhere.  This  he  did  in  con- 
sultation with  his  associates  in  the  leadership,  no 
doubt,  though  in  large  measure  he  was  given  that 
freedom  in  details  naturally  granted  to  his  ability, 


THE   TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  II 

devotion,  and  popularity.  How  he  proceeded  ap- 
pears in  his  report  to  the  Board  for  the  first 
year  in  this  service,  dated  May  25,  181 5.  He  had 
issued  an  address  to  the  Associations  in  order 
through  them  to  reach  the  churches,  and  since  some 
delay  would  necessarily  ensue  on  this  line,  he  had 
supplemented  it  by  correspondence  with  individuals. 
The  report  shows  the  agent's  idea  of  the  constitu- 
ency to  be  reached:  "  Two  objects  were  particularly 
in  view — to  engage  the  Associations  in  the  mission- 
ary cause,  and  to  open  a  channel  of  intercourse  be- 
tween the  Board  and  all  the  Baptist  churches  in 
the  United  States."  Among  the  Associations  he 
listed  several  bodies  of  collateral  character,  as 
*'  The  Sabbatarian  General  Conference,"  "  The  An- 
cient Order  of  the  Six  Principles,"  and  one  called 
the  "  Emancipating  Society."  He  gives  a  concise 
summary  of  these  bodies,  with  more  or  less  details 
of  their  missionary  attitudes  and  activities.  Count- 
ing all  the  irregulars  with  the  Associations,  he  mus- 
ters one  hundred  and  fifteen  as  already  actively  co- 
operating or  confidently  expected  to  do  so  when 
sufficiently  informed. 

The  prominence  given  to  the  Associations  and 
through  them  to  the  churches,  does  not  mean  any 
disparagement  of  the  missionary  societies.  On  the 
contrary,  the  promotion  of  these  as  auxiliary  to 
the  Convention  was  actively  continued  by  the  agent 
and  others.  In  a  letter  to  the  Board,  dated  June 
19,  1816,  a  few  days  after  the  meeting  of  the  Board, 


12  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

and  presumably  embodying  matter  which  had  been 
verbally  laid  before  that  body,  Mr.  Rice  reported 
some  of  his  activities  in  promoting  missionary  so- 
cieties, showing  that  he  was  accustomed  to  turn  his 
attention  to  them  when  the  other  methods  were  re- 
laxed and  when  situations  arose  favorable  to  this 
method ;  for  he  said :  "  As  the  period  of  the  Asso- 
ciations approached,  arrangements  were  made  for 
meetings,  the  object  of  which  was  the  formation 
of  missionary  societies.  At  four  successive  meetings 
of  this  kind  the  satisfaction  was  enjoyed  of  assisting 
in  the  organization  of  as  many  societies  of  this  de- 
scription," which  were  "  all  in  Kentucky." 

At  the  conclusion  of  its  first  triennial  meeting. 
May,  1817,  the  Convention,  perhaps  in  response  to 
inquiries,  entered  on  its  records,  "  as  the  deliberate 
sense  of  this  body,  that  the  delegates  and  proxies,  or 
their  substitutes,  appointed  by  the  mission  societies, 
Associations,  and  churches,  united  in  the  General 
Missionary  Convention,  do  continue  as  constituting 
the  said  Convention  till  the  time  of  the  next  tri- 
ennial meeting."  The  elements  of  constituency 
here  remain  the  same  as  three  years  earlier,  but 
the  order  is  changed ;  the  Associations,  not  then  spe- 
cifically named,  coming  next  to  the  societies,  and  the 
churches  last.  A  list  is  recorded  of  the  bodies  send- 
ing delegates,  which  are  summarized  by  the  reporter 
as  follows :  forty  societies,  two  Associations,  and  one 
church.  The  societies  were  partly  foreign  mission 
and    partly    mixed,    with    a    few    "  female "    and 


THE   TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  I3 

"  juvenile."  The  representations  by  the  Associa- 
tions were  both  indirect,  one  by  the  Missionary 
Board  of  the  Georgia  Association  and  the  other  by 
the  General  Committee  of  the  Charleston,  S.  C, 
Association,  which  committee  was  educational.  The 
one  church  was  the  Ogechee,  of  Georgia,  for  which 
Luther  Rice  appeared  as  "  proxy."  These  facts 
seem  to  have  justified  the  order  in  which  the  three 
classes  were  recorded.  To  this  list  another  was 
added  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  societies  not 
sending  representatives,  but  having  contributed  to 
the  Convention.  Evidently  at  this  date  the  so- 
cieties were  nearly  the  whole  thing  practically. 

At  this  meeting  the  constitution  was  slightly 
changed,  but  in  nothing  affecting  constituency.  On 
that  point  practical  unanimity  had  been  reached, 
which  continued,  so  far  at  least  as  concerns  any  ac- 
tion of  the  Convention  or  its  Board,  for  twenty-one 
years,  except  that  in  1823  the  restriction  of  each 
organization  to  two  representatives  for  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  without  regard  to  its  contributions 
above  that  amount,  was  changed  to  one  representa- 
tive for  the  first  one  hundred  dollars  and  one 
for  every  additional  hundred  dollars. 

It  should  be  said,  however,  that  very  soon  other 
views  in  this  field  secured  wide  acceptance  among 
the  friends  of  the  Convention,  which  were  expressed 
in  other  connections,  and  which,  if  they  had  been 
pressed,  might  have  caused  radical  changes.  After 
noting  briefly  some   items   in   the  development   of 


14  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

the  now  established  order,  we  will  observe  the 
course  of  that  variation  which  ran  into  the  sug- 
gestion of  a  collision. 

First,  then,  notice  the  movement  of  the  fixed 
order.  In  1823  representatives  appeared  from  mis- 
sionary organizations,  some  with  the  Baptist  name 
and  others  without — State,  county,  African,  female, 
etc.,  and  educational — ^but  only  one  church.  In  1829 
the  churches  and  the  State  Conventions,  the  latter 
then  just  getting  into  action,  made  a  better  pro- 
portionate showing.  Otherwise  the  variety  ran 
about  as  previously,  and  continued  substantially  the 
same  still  later. 

Secondly,  consider  the  revival  of  the  original 
view  "of  the  proper  basis  for  a  general  or  national 
organization.  It  had  been  sought  in  the  Associa- 
tions almost  exclusively  before  the  rise  of  the  mis- 
sionary societies.  These  last  were  most  available 
in  18 14,  and  consequently  the  Triennial  Conven- 
tion was  based  originally  on  them  almost  entirely, 
and  so  continued  for  several  years.  But  the  revival 
of  the  earlier  method  was  promoted  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  State  Conventions.  A  prominent  pref- 
erence appeared  for  the  Associations  as  the  basis 
for  the  State  bodies,  as  they  had  been  from  the 
beginning  for  all  organizations  larger  than  them- 
selves. The  churches  secured  but  small  recognition 
in  that  connection,  partly  because  of  the  difficulties 
in  transportation.  The  State  Conventions  started 
on  a  quite  miscellaneous  basis,  as  did  also  the  Gen- 


THE   TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  1 5 

eral  Tract  Society  and  the  Home  Mission  Society. 
All  of  these  will  claim  our  attention  later,  but  now 
we  are  dealing  with  the  Triennial.  In  this  connec- 
tion a  vision  arose  of  the  State  Conventions  as  the 
basis  of  larger  organization,  and  this  vision  naturally 
first  fixed  its  eye  on  the  already  existing  general 
body.  Two  distinguished  discussions  with  this  tend- 
ency appeared  in  the  "  American  Baptist  Maga- 
zine." Acquaintance  with  them  will  illuminate  our 
understanding  of  the  background  of  the  situation. 
Therefore  to  them  we  turn. 

In  1823  and  1824  "Backus"  (who  was  Francis 
Wayland,  then  a  pastor  in  Boston,  and  subsequently 
president  of  Brown  University)   published  six  let- 
ters in  the  magazine  discussing  the  Association  in 
various  aspects.     The  fifth  letter  raised  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  best  method  for  wider  co-operation 
by  Baptists,  and  the  sixth  opened  thus :  "  My  last 
letter  closed  with  the  question,  How  may  a  general 
union  of  our  churches  throughout  the  United  States 
be  accomplished?     I  shall  now  suggest  the  answer 
to  it.     Here  I  confess  I  distrust  myself."     Having 
reiterated  the  principle  of  the  independence  of  the 
churches  and  recognized  the  general  readiness  of  the 
people  to  support  education  and  missions,  provided 
that  a  practical  plan  could  be  devised,  and  having 
called  attention  to  the  available  basis  in  the  Asso- 
ciations, he  proceeded :  "  We  see  then  that  the  As- 
sociations are  in  possession  of  all  the  information 
we  could  desire,  if  it  could  only  be  regularly  col- 


l6  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

lected.  We  see  they  are  representative  bodies, 
and  could  declare  the  faith  and  practice  of  their 
churches  " — representative,  he  means,  empowered 
to  devise  methods  "  consistent  with  established  prin- 
ciples." Returning  next  to  the  main  question,  he 
said,  "  The  model  of  our  system  of  general  and 
State  governments  will  at  once  suggest  itself  to 
every  American."  The  Associations  could  concen- 
trate resources  and  information  in  the  State  Conven- 
tion, whose  duties  would  be  to  ascertain  the  condi- 
tion of  all  the  churches  in  the  State,  locating  the 
points  of  need  and  encouraging  the  churches  "  to 
systematic  exertion  in  the  cause  of  Christ  "  through 
the  Associations,  the  funds  so  accumulated  to  be 
passed  on  to  the  State  body  and  thence  distributed 
to  State  and  foreign  missions,  for  the  former  of 
which  a  Board  of  Management  would  be  provided. 
So  he  came  to  his  concluding  proposal :  "  The  State 
Conventions  might  send  delegates  "  to  form  a  gen- 
eral convention.  "  Under  this  body  might  be  placed 
the  general  missionary  and  educational  concerns  of 
the  denomination."  Recognizing  that  these  "  are, 
in  a  measure,  under  that  general  superintendency 
at  present,"  in  the  Triennial  Convention,  he  stepped 
to  the  hilltop  of  his  intention  in  these  words :  "  But 
it  is  evident  that  the  system  of  representation  is 
very  imperfect,  and  is  far  from  being  so  constituted 
as  to  combine  the  general  sentiment  of  our  whole 
church.  The  convention  at  present  is  composed 
of    delegates    from    missionary    societies,    and,    of 


THE  TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  I7 

course,  must,  in  its  very  nature,  be  mostly  composed 
of  persons  elected  from  the  vicinity  of  its  place 
of  meeting.  And  besides,  were  the  meeting  ever 
so  universally  attended,  its  foundation  is  radically 
defective.  A  missionary  society  is  not  a  representa- 
tive body,  nor  can  any  one  of  them  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  a  whole  denomination.  Most  of  them  are 
female  societies,  which  have  no  influence  beyond 
their  own  members.  But  it  is  needless  to  pursue 
this  subject."  The  letter  closed  with  a  yet  wider 
view  of  the  possibilities  of  this  proposed  national 
body,  through  correspondence  and  co-operation  with 
European  Baptists,  "  and  thus  the  Baptists  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  would  be  united  in  a  solid 
phalanx,"  which  could  be  utilized  in  "  a  general 
book  system,"  promoting  intelligence  and  raising 
money  "  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,"  unify- 
ing the  faith  and  "  exciting  all  our  churches  to 
every  laudable  exertion  for  the  extension  of  re- 
ligion." The  author  closed  with  an  appeal  to  ap- 
proaching meetings  and  the  people  generally  not  to 
consider  his  suggestions  "  visionary,"  but  to  give 
them  "  serious  consideration  "  or  propose  something 
better. 

It  is  beyond  doubt  that  W^ayland  did  not  write  for 
himself  alone  in  this  argument  and  plea.  The  fact 
that  he  was  a  young  pastor  surrounded  by  older 
leaders,  for  whom  he  had  great  deference,  would 
make  this  morally  certain  even  if  nothing  more 
were  available.     But  more  is  available.     The  State 

B 


l8  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

Convention  of  Alassachiisetts  was  organized  a  few 
months  later  than  the  appearance  of  the  letter  from 
which  we  have  jnst  been  quoting.  The  call  for  it 
was  signed  by  Baldwin,  Bolles,  Williams,  Going, 
and  Wayland.  With  it  went  a  proposed  constitu- 
tion, which  contained  this  provision,  "  Whenever 
a  General  Convention,  formed  from  State  Conven- 
tions throughout  the  United  States,  shall  be  formed, 
or  designed,  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  this  Conven- 
tion to  send  delegates  to  meet  in  such  Convention, 
and  to  instruct  them  to  enter  into  any  arrange- 
ments to  promote  the  interests  of  religion,  not  in- 
consistent with  this  constitution,  nor  with  the  gen- 
eral declaration  on  which  it  is  founded."  This  was 
slightly,  but  not  substantially,  amended  before 
adoption.  It  makes  certain  that  in  Massachusetts 
the  determining  conviction  was  settled  in  1824,  that 
a  national  convention  was  not  far  away,  and  that 
it  would  be  composed  of  delegates  from  the  State 
Conventions.  (The  Massachusetts  declaration  was 
not  followed  by  any  State,  but  it  had  been  incor- 
porated a  month  earlier  in  the  constitution  of 
Maine,  which  precisely  duplicated  it  as  it  was  in  its 
original  draft.) 

In  the  magazine  of  April,  1826,  "  Candidus " 
entered  into  a  free  discussion  of  questions  liable 
to  appear  at  the  meeting  of  the  Triennial  Conven- 
tion a  month  later.  Toward  the  close  he  took  up 
the  item  of  constituenc3\  The  views  he  presented 
were   the    same   as   those   of   Wayland   two   years 


THE   TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  I9 

earlier,  and  were  applied  to  the  general  body  already 
existing  in  the  same  way  as  his  predecessor  had 
applied  them  to  the  general  body  then  anticipated. 
He  said :  "  Another  subject  of  equal  importance  will 
probably  be  at  this  time  agitated.  It  is  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Convention.  It  has  been  doubted 
by  some  of  our  most  judicious  men  whether  this 
was  the  best  method  of  fixing  the  representation. 
It  is  certainly  very  unequal  in  its  operation,  and  is 
very  far  from  collecting  with  certainty  the  united 
wisdom  of  our  brethren.  .  .  But  to  illustrate  the 
practical  efifect  of  the  present  system,  it  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  refer  to  the  minutes  of  the  last  Con- 
vention [at  Washington].  There  were  present  in 
all  but  fifty-one  delegates.  Of  these,  fourteen — that 
is,  five  more  than  appeared  from  all  New  England, 
and  nearly  one-third  of  the  whole  body — resided  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Now,  if  we  proceed  upon 
the  principle  that  taxation  and  representation  should 
be  proportioned  to  each  other,  this  arrangement  is 
most  manifestly  unjust.  .  .  These  difficulties  have 
suggested  to  many  of  our  wisest  brethren  the  idea 
of  having  the  second  article  of  the  constitution  so 
altered  that  all  the  members  of  the  General  Con- 
vention shall  be  appointed  by  the  State  Conven- 
tions." Having  affirmed  that  the  State  body  could 
better  secure  an  actual  and  general  representation, 
he  continued,  "  The  General  Convention  would  thus 
become  a  strong  bond  of  connection  between  all  the 
dilTerent    portions    of   our   denomination    scattered 


20  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

over  this  widely  extended  country,  and  would  bind 
them  together  in,  it  may  be  hoped,  indissoluble 
union." 

The  question  of  change  in  representation  did  not 
come  before  the  Triennial  Convention  in  1826.  as 
evidently  desired  by  *'  Candidus."  This  resulted 
partly  perhaps  from  the  fact  that  in  that  meeting 
attention  was  intently  directed  to  perplexing  prob- 
lems more  immediately  pertinent  to  the  work  of  the 
Convention.  The  Board  of  Management  was  moved 
from  Washington  to  Boston,  and  the  educational 
enterprise  was  abandoned.  This  involved  a  long 
and  strenuous  consideration  of  the  efficiency  and 
standing  of  Luther  Rice  and  Columbian  College. 
The  report  of  the  meeting  in  the  magazine  said : 
"  The  session  was  a  peculiarly  laborious  and  trying 
one.  On  some  subjects  of  great  importance  there 
was  considerable  conflict  of  opinion  and  feeling. 
But  it  is  believed  that  toward  the  close  much  har- 
mony of  both  feeling  and  judgment  prevailed." 
The  conditions  here  disclosed  made  a  good  reason 
w4iy  a  question  of  constitutional  revision,  almost 
certain  to  lead  to  extended  discussion  and  possibly 
additional  disturbance  of  harmony,  might  have  been 
withheld,  which  in  more  propitious  times  would  have 
been  put  forward. 

But  two  actions  of  the  Convention  indicate  the 
working  of  the  thoughts  previously  promulgated 
by  "  Backus  "  and  "  Candidus."  First,  the  Com- 
mittee  on   "  Domestic   Missions,"   John    M.    Peck, 


THE  TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  21 

chairman,     urged    more    extended    and    systematic 
operations,    but    proposed    nothing    concerning    a 
directing  organization.     This  was  responded  to  by 
the  Convention  in  the  following  resolution:  "That 
this  Convention  will  heartily  rejoice  in  the  adoption 
of  such  general  measures  in  relation  to  domestic 
missions  as  shall  be  calculated  to  unite  the  energies 
of  the  whole  denomination  in  systematic  missionary 
labors  in  our  country,  either  by   the  co-operative 
efforts  of  State  Conventions  and  Associations,  or 
other  eligible  means."    This  may  be  reasonably  con- 
strued as  a  compromise  between  varying  judgments 
in  the  committee  and  back  of  it,  leaving  the  work- 
ing out  of  details  to  a  later  date.     Secondly,  the 
report  of  the  committee  on  State  Conventions  is 
not   available,   and   we   are   left   to   infer   its   con- 
tents from  the  action  of  the  Convention  responsive 
to  it,  which  instructed  the  corresponding  secretary 
to   correspond    with   the    State    Conventions,    "  so- 
liciting their  co-operation  in  the  object  of  this  Con- 
vention   [foreign  missions],  and   inviting  them  to 
send  delegates  to  its  next  triennial  meeting,  .  .  and 
also  to  correspond  with  the  missionary  societies  in 
such  States  as  may  not  have  formed  such  Conven- 
tions."    Here  is  again  token  of  compromise  and 
postponement  along  the  lines  of  current  agitation 
over  the  representative  problem.     Presumably  the 
Triennial  Convention  thought  that  in  these  actions 
it  had  relieved  itself  of  the  troublers.     But  if  so, 
it  was  mistaken. 


22  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

When  it  met  in  1829  its  attention  was  claimed 
by  a  communication  from  a  respectable  source,  the 
Hudson  River  Association.  It  ran  as  follows : 
"  Resolved,  that  this  Association  view  with  peculiar 
satisfaction  the  progress  of  our  denomination  to- 
ward a  state  of  happy  and  united  co-operation  in 
the  formation  of  State  Conventions  and  local  As- 
sociations. .  .  We  feel  impressed  with  the  belief  that 
the  time  has  arrived  when  we  should  have  some 
regularly  constituted  bond  or  center  of  union  to- 
ward which,  as  a  denomination,  we  might  look.  We 
do  therefore  respectfully  request  the  Baptist  Gen- 
eral Convention  for  Missionary  Purposes  to  take 
into  consideration,  at  its  meeting  in  Philadelphia 
in  April,  1829,  the  propriety  of  forming  an  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Convention  for  General  Purposes,  to 
assemble  triennially  in  some  central  part  of  the 
United  States."  The  authors  of  this  seem  to  have 
abandoned  entirely  the  thought  that  the  Convention 
they  were  addressing  should  or  could  become  such 
an  organization,  but  they  regarded  it  as  the  proper 
leader  in  the  movement  proposed. 

Their  communication  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  State  Conventions,  whose  report  was 
adopted,  thus :  "  This  Convention  does  in  the  most 
perfect  manner  embrace  within  the  bounds  of  its 
purview,  all  that  appears  to  be  contemplated  in 
the  recommendation  of  the  Hudson  River  Associa- 
tion." By  what  interpretation  of  terms  this  deliver- 
ance could  have  been  regarded  as  true  is  a  mystery, 


THE   TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  23 

when  the  Triennial  Convention  then  had  ehminated 
education  from  its  purview,  had  restricted  its  mis- 
sionary operations  to  the  Indians  in  this  country  and 
the  pagans  in  other  lands,  and  was  neither  doing 
nor  proposing  to  do  anything  else  anywhere.  The 
original  design  to  make  it  both  home  missionary  and 
educational,  which  had  a  temporary  and  unsatis- 
factory trial  following  its  second  meeting  in  181 7, 
had  now  been  definitely  abandoned.  This  produced 
a  new  situation,  throwing  the  sentiment  for  a  re- 
vision of  the  constitution  on  the  point  of  constitu- 
ency, previously  voiced  by  "  Candidus,"  in  the  direc- 
tion of  another  organization  and  for  general  pur- 
poses, precisely  the  idea  that,  earlier  than  "  Candi- 
dus," had  been  promulgated  in  Massachusetts.  The 
situation  had  been  further  modified  by  the  founding 
of  the  Baptist  Tract  Society,  now  a  thrifty  institu- 
tion five  years  old.  It  is  also  highly  probable  that 
the  position  here  taken  helped  toward  the  starting 
of  the  Home  Mission  Society  three  years  later  (i). 
That  having  been  accomplished,  the  three  general 
Societies  and  the  State  Conventions  absorbed  the  at- 
tention until  the  rupture  in  1845. 

A  review  of  the  Convention  of  1829  appeared  in 
the  magazine  for  July  of  that  year.  The  editor 
states  that  it  was  from  "  a  valued  correspondent," 
and  was  inserted  "  with  much  pleasure."  This  cor- 
respondent tells  that  the  meeting,  well  representing 
the  Atlantic  States,  but  without  a  representative 
from  beyond  the  mountains,  "  was  delightfully  liar- 


24  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

moniotis.  Perhaps  no  equal  number  of  brethren, 
many  of  whom  had  never  before  seen  each  other, 
ever  met  for  legislation  on  important  questions,  who 
were  more  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same 
mind  and  the  same  judgment."  The  differences, 
which  were  frankly  and  fully  discussed,  "  related 
principally  to  modes  of  action  rather  than  to  meas- 
ures, and  the  decisions  to  which  the  discussions  led 
were  almost  uniformly  unanimous."  Having  re- 
called the  fact  that  the  difficulties  of  combination  in 
the  past  had  arisen  not  so  much  from  strife  as  from 
isolation  and  ignorance  of  each  other,  he  summar- 
ized historically  as  follows :  "  The  Associations  and 
State  Conventions  have  done  something  toward  mar- 
shaling these  detachments  into  combined,  active, 
and  efficient  array.  The  General  Convention  has 
been  of  the  utmost  service  in  preparing  the  way  for 
a  perfect  and  general  co-operation.  We  may  hope 
that  there  may  be  a  rapid  advance  toward  this  de- 
sirable result." 

Turning  now  our  attention  more  directly  toward 
the  composition  of  constituency  and  searching  for 
change,  we  are  led  nine  years  forward.  In  1838 
a  revision  of  the  constitution  was  unanimously 
adopted,  which  swung  the  Triennial  Convention 
back  from  its  position  hitherto  and  toward  the 
original  basis  of  Baptist  missionary  organization  in 
a  fundamental  element.  This  change  aligned  it  with 
the  General  Tract  Society  and  the  Home  Mission 
Society,    which   had   incorporated    this    element    in 


THE  TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  2$ 

their  systems  from  their  beginnings.  The  Conven- 
tion added  to  its  provisions  for  representation  of 
various  Baptist  bodies  the  clause,  "  and  of  indi- 
viduals of  the  Baptist  denomination."  These  indi- 
viduals came  into  relations  with  it,  and  continued 
in  them  on  the  same  financial  terms  as  the  represent- 
atives of  organizations,  which  were  substantially  as 
heretofore. 

What  considerations  and  motives  lay  behind  this 
change  I  do  not  know,  but  the  presumption  seems 
fair  that  the  other  two  general  bodies,  more  recently 
arisen,  were  reaping  pecuniary  benefits,  if  no  others, 
through  the  individual  constituency,  which  the  older 
sought  to  share.  This  indicates  either  an  increase 
or  a  persistence,  or  both,  of  the  sentiment  favorable 
to  the  more  complex  ground  of  membership  (2). 

Passing  on,  we  next  move  up  to  the  threshold  of 
the  last  meeting  of  the  Convention  prior  to  the  de- 
parture of  the  South.  Our  purpose  is  to  open  a 
glimpse  into  the  relations  of  constituency  to  the 
agitations  of  that  bubbling  time.  The  magazine 
for  April,  1842,  contained  an  editorial,  official,  en- 
titled, "  The  Acting  Board."  The  authors  were  in 
the  rapids  and  their  stress  of  spirit  quivers  through 
it.  Following  statements  of  the  ordinary  difficulties 
in  their  task,  they  say :  "  There  are  also  other 
obstacles  which  our  Board  have  to  meet,  some  of 
which  arise  from  the  nature  of  the  civil  institutions 
of  the  country;  some  from  the  peculiarities  of  our 
present  history;  and  some  from  the  nature  of  our 


26  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

ecclesiastical  polity.  There  are  many  influences  ad- 
verse to  the  cause  of  missions  among  us  that  fur- 
nish occasion  for  deep  regret.  There  are  not  want- 
ing those  who  feel  at  liberty  to  assail  the  Board 
in  a  manner  calculated  to  destroy  public  confidence, 
and,  of  course,  to  diminish  its  resources.  The 
grounds  of  objection  are  various.  Some  maintain 
that  an  Association  embracing  both  extremes  of  the 
union  must  necessarily  be  accessory  to  the  per- 
petuity of  sectional  evils;  others,  that  if  the  wicked 
are  allowed  to  cast  into  the  common  treasury,  the 
displeasure  of  Heaven  must  consequently  rest  upon 
the  whole  institution."  The  third  criticism  specified 
relates  to  the  efficiency  of  the  Board.  Thus  it  ap- 
pears that  at  this  juncture  two  out  of  the  three 
criticisms  definitely  enumerated,  and  presumably  re- 
garded as  most  serious,  were  addressed  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  constituency — one  protesting  against 
the  association  with  slavery,  and  the  other  against 
receiving  contributions  from  those  not  Christian. 

In  1844  changes  were  made  on  some  minor  points 
in  finance  related  to  membership,  perhaps  in  re- 
sponse to  more  radical  desires,  for  the  committee, 
to  which  some  undefined  proposals  were  submitted 
and  whose  report  was  adopted,  reported  adversely 
to  disturbing  "'  the  constitution  and  by-laws  under 
which  we  have  so  long  and  happily  acted." 

The  last  meeting  of  the  Triennial  Convention  was 
a  special  one  convened  November  19,  1845.  O^^  the 
next  day  a  constitution  was  provisionally  adopted 


THE  TRIENNIAL    CONVENTION  2/ 

for  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  under 
which  name  the  Northern  part  of  the  old  organiza- 
tion designed  to  continue  after  the  departure  of  the 
Southern  members,  then  already  consummated.  In 
this  meeting  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  con- 
stituencies were  represented  by  one  or  more  persons 
each.  They  were  two  general  societies  (American 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  and  x\mericaa  Baptist 
Publication  Society);  five  State  Conventions;  ten 
individual  subscriptions;  twenty  missionary  soci- 
eties, various,  women's  predominating;  twenty- 
seven  Associations  ;  and  sixty  churches.  They  hailed 
from  the  States  covering  the  territory  from  Maine 
to  Pennsylvania,  inclusive,  except  one  church  in 
Delaware,  one  individual  in  District  of  Columbia, 
one  society  in  Kentucky,  and  the  Indiana  State  As- 
sociation. This  meeting  was  continued  by  adjourn- 
ment till  the  following  May,  when  the  Triennial 
Convention  gave  place  to  the  Missionary  Union.  Its 
actions  that  find  their  permanent  significance  in  the 
latter  body   will   be   considered   under   its  name. 


II 

THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY    UNION 

The  special  meeting  of  the  Triennial  Convention, 
which  had  been  adjourned  in  November,  1845,  pend- 
ing legal  adjustments,  resumed  and  completed  its 
session  in  May,  1846,  when,  on  the  twenty-first 
of  that  month,  the  constitution  was  permanently 
adopted,  and  the  Missionary  Union  started  with 
about  seven  hundred  life-members. 

The  third  article  of  the  constitution  said :  "  This 
Union  shall  be  composed  of  life-members.  All  the 
members  of  the  Baptist  General  Convention  who 
may  be  present  at  the  adoption  of  this  constitution 
shall  be  members  for  life  of  this  Union.  Other 
persons  may  be  constituted  life-members  by  the  pay- 
ment, at  one  time,  of  not  less  than  one  hundred 
dollars"  (3). 

Here  is  a  membership  without  precedent.  The 
position  which  was  at  first  taken  by  the  General 
Convention  for  Foreign  Missions — that  is,  on  a 
basis  of  Baptist  organizations  solely,  is  totally  aban- 
doned. At  the  same  time,  the  miscellaneous  mem- 
bership, combining  individuals  and  organizations 
(against  which  it  for  a  time  had  held  out,  but  to 
which  it  had  later  succumbed,  following  the  Pub- 
lication and  Home  Mission  Societies),  is  also  totallv 
28 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY    UNION     2<) 

abandoned.  Of  the  whole  variety  of  elements 
hitherto  in  view  anywhere,  the  Missionary  Union 
takes  a  single  one — one  that  no  preceding  Baptist 
missionary  organization  had  taken  solely  or  con- 
spicuously— and  planted  itself  exclusively  on  indi- 
vidual life-membership.  This  life-membership  was 
conditioned  entirely  on  money.  The  fund  securing 
it  might  come  from  any  source;  the  source  of  the 
fund  might  name  any  individual  for  the  membership 
secured  by  its  one  hundred  dollars;  but  the  indi- 
vidual member  having  been  enrolled,  he  was  amen- 
able to  no  one,  and  could  not  be  deprived  of  his 
membership  by  any  one.  This  constitutes  a  revo- 
lutionary reversion,  and  more,  without  a  parallel 
in  the  whole  course  of  the  history  of  which  it  is 
a  part.  It  therefore  solicits,  if  it  does  not  demand, 
extraordinary  scrutiny.  Why  did  the  framers  of 
this  document  so  completely  cut  out  the  people  and 
repudiate  conditions  of  character  in  those  who  were 
peculiarly  bulwarked  by  prerogatives  in  administra- 
tion under  a  life  tenure,  who  was  responsible  for  it, 
and  what  induced  the  people  who  had  been  the  life 
of  the  Triennial  Convention  to  accept  it? 

This  strange  thing  was  not  done  inadvertently. 
The  Committee  of  Xine  that  proposed  this  constitu- 
tion in  November,  1845,  l^^^l  been  appointed  for  this 
purpose  by  the  Board  of  the  Triennial  Convention 
in  the  preceding  September.  It  was  a  strong  com- 
mittee and  eminently  honorable — Spencer  H.  Cone, 
Francis  Wayland,  Richard   Fletcher,  Ileman   Lin- 


30  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

coin,  Baron  Stow,  John  M.  Peck,  Elisha  Tucker, 
William  R.  Williams,  and  William  Colgate.  Doctor 
Stow  is  the  chief  source  of  information  at  this 
point,  so  far  as  the  present  writer  knows,  and  the 
most  competent  because  his  was  the  central  posi- 
tion, as  secretary  of  the  committee,  in  shaping  the 
discussion  in  the  correspondence  through  which  it 
was  conducted.  The  following  statement  of  the 
course  of  construction  and  adoption  of  the  consti- 
tution is  based  on  his  records  (4)  : 

The  Committee  of  Nine,  meeting  soon  after  its 
appointment,  recognized  serious  differences  con- 
cerning the  structure  of  the  organization  which  was 
to  succeed  the  Triennial.  These  differences  were 
conspicuously  represented  on  the  committee  by  two 
very  influential  leaders — Cone,  chairman  of  the 
committee,  and  Wayland,  president  of  the  Conven- 
tion. Cone  proposed  that  the  members  from  the 
Middle  States  agree  on  a  plan,  those  of  New  Eng- 
land do  the  same ;  the  two  to  be  harmonized  through 
correspondence  among  the  committeemen.  This  was 
attempted.  Cone  wrote  a  constitution,  which  was 
sent  to  Boston  after  having  been  approved  by  his 
three  colleagues  in  New  York  and  Peck  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  New  England  side  looked  to  \\''ay- 
land  as  scribe,  and  he  prepared  a  constitution.  This 
was  sent  for  inspection  to  New  York,  as  the  other 
was  to  Boston.  Doctor  Stow  states  that  the  two 
showed  "  a  wide  diversity  of  opinions,  .  .  the  views 
of  Doctor  Cone  being  eminently  democratic,  those 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY    UNION     3I 

of  Doctor  Wayland  insisting  on  greater  power  in 
the  executive  agency."  The  ensuing  correspondence 
"  resulted  in  the  preparation  of  two  new  forms, 
which,  in  some  respects,  came  nearer  together.  By 
correspondence  the  differences  were  still  further 
diminished,  but  on  some  points  there  was  a  very 
decided  disagreement." 

The  foregoing  is  general.  To  be  understood  it 
must  have  read  into  it  some  account  of  what,  mean- 
time, went  on  in  the  New  England  end  of  the 
committee  especially.  On  receiving  Cone's  plan. 
Stow  submitted  it  to  Lincoln  and  Fletcher,  and  re- 
ported to  Cone  that  Boston  proposed  a  few  altera- 
tions ;  the  only  points  of  difference  being  two.  One 
related  to  the  name ;  the  other  proposed  honorary 
life-memberships,  granting  privilege  of  discussion, 
but  not  vote  (5).  This  makes  it  certain  that  the 
New  York  constitution,  as  amended  by  Boston,  was 
"  eminently  democratic,"  modified  only  to  the  ex- 
tent of  helpless  honorary  life-members.  In  his  let- 
ter to  Cone  conveying  these  facts.  Stow  said :  "  I 
am  highly  gratified  with  your  plan  as  a  whole.  .  . 
There  may  be  spirits  who  will  endeavor  to  introduce 
restrictive  elements ;  but  you  may  be  assured  that 
our  leading  New  England  brethren  desire  nothing 
of  the  kind,  and  will  stand  with  you  in  resisting 
everything  that  is  not  broadly  catholic."  This  let- 
ter was  dated  October  i,  and  the  writer  says  that  he 
is  going  the  next  day  to  Providence  to  "  lay  the 
whole  before  Doctor  Wayland,"   whose  plan  pre- 


32  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

sumably  had  been  in  Boston  at  least  as  long  as  that 
of  Cone,  and  had  probably  induced  the  honorary 
life-membership  proposal  as  a  compromise  between 
the  two.  But  two  weeks  later  Boston  proposed  to 
New  York  a  "  convention  of  life-members,  with 
limited  powers  and  responsibilities,"  saying :  "  Our 
object  has  been  to  combine  the  popular  and  con- 
servative elements,  and  interpose  such  checks  and 
balances  as  shall  insure  safety  in  the  action  of 
the  machinery."  A  week  later  still,  Stow  wrote  to 
Cone,  concerning  "  the  structure  of  the  organiza- 
tion," saying :  "  The  difference  is  so  wide  that  I 
see  not  how  we  shall  be  likely  to  come  together 
unless  we  can  have  a  meeting  of  the  whole  com- 
mittee." Again  a  week  later  he  repeated  this  con- 
viction, and  so  it  stood  until  the  whole  committee 
met  the  day  preceding  the  assembling  of  the  Con- 
vention to  which  it  was  to  report.  Following  the 
adjournment  of  that  meeting  of  the  committee, 
Stow  wrote  in  his  diary :  "  After  a  laborious  ses- 
sion of  nearly  nine  hours,  we  agreed  unanimously 
on  a  draft  to  be  submitted  to  the  Convention.  This 
is  the  first  ray  of  light  that  has  pierced  our  dense 
darkness.  May  it  be  the  presage  of  a  full  day."  It 
is  conclusively  testified  that  the  unanimous  adoption 
of  the  constitution,  substantially  as  reported,  was 
the  result  of  the  magnanimity  and  eloquence  of 
Doctor  Cone  (6). 

From  the  foregoing  the  conclusion  seems  to  be 
unavoidable  that  Pres.  Francis  Wayland  was  more 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY    UNION     33 

responsible  than  any  other  person,  and  ahiiost  cer- 
tainly than  all  others  combined,  for  this  constitution. 
He  was  president  of  the  Convention.  He  was  a 
colossal  influence  in  the  denomination,  and  he  knew 
it.  He  was  very  resolute  in  having  his  own  way  in 
things  that  he  deemed  important.  He  stood  im- 
movably for  every  element  in  the  constitution  he 
had  drafted  that  seemed  to  him  essential  to  effect- 
iveness in  administration  and  the  prevention  of 
*'  any  sudden  irruptions  of  popular  excitement " 
("  Memoir  of  Baron  Stow,"  p.  206).  Therefore 
no  way  appeared  to  secure  agreement  in  the  com- 
mittee unless  Doctor  Cone  should  make  the  bulk 
of  concession,  which  he  did  (7). 

But  we  cannot  get  an  adequate  perspective  at  this 
point  until  our  view  has  been  still  more  widened. 
Wayland's  pertinacity  was  entrenched  in  an  extraor- 
dinary general  situation.  The  withdrawal  of  the 
South,  together  with  the  peril  consequent  on  the 
divergence  of  preferences  on  the  part  of  those  who 
remained,  left  the  foreign  mission  outlook  very 
dark  and  dubious.  Where  was  the  money  to  come 
from  to  fill  the  financial  gap  caused  by  the  Southern 
departure?  What  could  the  efifect  be  but  disas- 
trous if,  in  addition  to  the  depleted  support,  the 
Convention  should  be  irreconcilably  divided  on  or- 
ganization? These  questions  loomed  large  in  the 
eye  of  that  hour.  To  those  people  the  missionary 
cause  was  precious  beyond  expression.  Judson  was 
in  the  United  States  and  would  be  in  the  Conven- 
C 


34  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

tion.  His  presence  intensified  the  tenderness  of  ttie 
solicitude  as  the  presence  of  no  man  to-day  any- 
where could  intensify  it.  The  impression  was  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  denomination  that  a  retreat 
was  inevitable  at  the  very  best;  that  some  of  the 
missionaries  must  be  recalled,  and  the  more  pessi- 
mistic feared  that  the  whole  work  was  on  the  eve 
of  great  disaster.  Perhaps  the  Baptist  heart  in  the 
Northern  States  has  never  been  so  anxious,  cer- 
tainly never  more  anxious,  about  its  foreign  mis- 
sions than  it  was  when  the  special  meeting  for  re- 
organization assembled  in  1845.  Thence  resulted 
an  unusual  preparation  for  concession  on  all  pos- 
sible points  in  order  to  save  the  unity  of  spirit  to 
face  the  frowning  future  (8). 

The  unanimous  adoption  of  the  constitution  of 
the  Missionary  Union,  in  November,  1845,  was  not 
the  end  of  the  division  of  sentiment  which  had  pre- 
ceded it.  A  widespread  discontent  with  the  basis 
of  control  promptly  found  expression  in  the  follow- 
ing May  after  the  final  action  adopting  the  consti- 
tution. The  discontent  was  strong  in  New  York 
State  (9),  and  on  the  consummation  of  the  or- 
ganization. Rev.  Alfred  Bennett  of  that  State  of- 
fered this  resolution :  "  That  any  church  or  other 
religious  body,  choosing  to  represent  itself  in  one 
annual  meeting  only  upon  the  payment  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  shall  enjoy  for  the  time  being  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  a  member."  This  was  re- 
jected as  unconstitutional.     On  a  reconsideration. 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY   UNION    35 

however,  and  further  discussion,  it  was  referred 
to  the  Board  of  Managers  "  for  their  considera- 
tion, to  report  at  the  next  annual  meeting."  Mr, 
Bennett  explained  that  he  himself  was  satisfied  with 
the  constitution,  but  acted  for  "  some  beloved  breth- 
ren who  were  strongly  attached  to  the  principle  of 
annual  church  representation,"  to  use  the  language 
of  a  reporter  (lo). 

When  the  Board  met  in  1847,  it  declined  to  "  de- 
cide a  question  of  such  magnitude,  involving  a 
fundamental  principle  of  our  organization  and  as- 
sociated with  interests  of  the  gravest  character." 
The  first  reason  given  for  this  hesitancy  was  the 
very  small  attendance  both  of  the  Board  and  the 
Union,  the  meetings  being  in  Cincinnati.  Addi- 
tional reasons  were,  "  the  brevity  of  the  period  since 
the  constitution  was  adopted,"  and  insufficient  time 
for  proper  consideration.  The  recommendation  was 
therefore  made  to  the  Union  "  that  the  subject  be 
referred  to  a  special  committee  of  nine,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  give  it  a  thorough  investigation,"  and 
report  a  year  later. 

The  report  to  the  Board  by  this  committee  of 
nine,  in  1848,  was  a  very  elaborate  document  for 
one  of  its  class  and  time.  The  discussion  of  the 
whole  issue  raised  by  the  exceptional  character 
of  the  new  constitution  had  been  widely  extended. 
The  report  succinctly  summarized  the  arguments  on 
both  sides,  but  it  threw  itself  into  the  conflict  on 
the  side  of  the  constitution  (11).     Here  the  com- 


36  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

mittee  was  divided,  but  the  minority  supported  a 
unanimous  report  in  the  interest  of  harmony.  The 
report  closed  with  a  recommendation  and  a  sugges- 
tion. It  recommended  that  the  Union  inquire  more 
fully  than  the  committee  had  been  able  to  do,  "  how 
far  the  feeling  in  our  churches  "  favorable  to  the 
proposed  amendment  was  increasing  or  decreasing. 
The  suggestion  was  that  if  the  Board  should  dis- 
cover that  among  "  numerous  and  honest  friends  of 
missions  in  the  churches  "  a  sufficient  demand  for 
the  introduction  of  annual  memberships  appeared 
to  warrant  any  action,  it  should  take  the  form  of  an 
amendment  providing  for  annual  membership  of 
"  any  church,  or  religious  body,  or  individual,"  on 
the  payment  of  at  least  fifty  dollars.  With  this 
was  coupled  the  recommendation  that  any  such  in- 
troduction of  representative  membership  should  pro- 
vide that  the  representatives  should  not  represent 
"  in  the  popular  and  full  sense  of  that  term."  This 
report  was  accepted  by  the  Board  and  "  presented 
to  the  Union."  The  Board  also  directed  the  home 
secretary  "  to  address  a  circular  to  every  member  of 
the  Union,  requesting  his  opinion  on  the  question 
now  at  issue  "  (12). 

When  the  Board  assembled  in  May,  1849,  the 
secretary,  to  whom  the  investigation  had  been  com- 
mitted, reported,  and  his  report  was  referred  to  a 
committee  of  five,  which  presented  to  the  Board  at 
the  same  meeting  an  analysis  of  the  responses  from 
members,  with  observations  and  recommendations 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY   UNION     37 

on  the  same.  The  presentation  shows  that  "  about 
seventeen  hundred  members  had  been  addressed,  of 
whom  eight  hundred  and  thirty-one  iiad  responded. 
Of  these,  four  hundred  and  twelve  favored  the 
amendment  and  four  hundred  and  nineteen  opposed. 
Of  the  affirmative  voters,  forty-one  were  satisfied 
with  the  constitution,  but  "  consent  to  the  change  for 
the  sake  of  peace,"  and  seven  prefer  a  lower  sum 
than  fifty  dollars  for  an  annual  membership.  The 
States  favoring  the  amendment  were  New  Hamp- 
shire, \'ermont,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Delaware, 
Ohio,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin,  all  on  a  close 
vote  except  Connecticut,  Ohio,  and  Michigan,  which 
returned  larger  majorities ;  and  perhaps  New  York 
should  go  into  this  list,  for  its  vote  was:  Yes,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five ;  No,  one  hundred  and  eight. 
Opposing  on  small  majorities  were  Maine  and  New 
Jersey,  supported  by  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
and  Pennsylvania  more  strongly.  Delaware  and 
Wisconsin  were  unanimously  in  favor,  while  In- 
diana was  equally  divided.  The  committee  con- 
cluded that  the  Board  would  be  "  less  justifiable  in 
recommending  the  proposed  change  in  the  con- 
stitution than  at  any  former  period  since  its  adop- 
tion," and  that  the  large  e.xpense  attending  the  re- 
cent canvass  rendered  it  unjustifiable  to  repeat  that 
process.  This  was  adopted  by  the  Board  and  pre- 
sented to  the  Union  as  its  decision,  which  was 
final.  So  ended  the  protracted  effort  to  secure  the 
amendment  as  proposed  by  Mr.  Bennett.    The  orig- 


38  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

inal  question  was  whether  a  church  might  send 
an  annual  representative  for  the  same  money  as 
secured  a  hfe-membership  for  an  individual,  and  the 
three  years'  agitation  failed  to  get  that  question  be- 
fore the  Missionary  Union,  If  it  had  reached  that 
goal  the  indications  are  that  it  would  have  met  about 
an  equal  division. 

Two  years  later,  1851,  Nathanael  Colver,  pastor 
at  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  offered  in  the  Board 
this  resolution :  "  That  the  Board  recommend  to 
the  Union  that  they  add  the  following  clause  to 
Article  III  of  the  Constitution:  'And  any  church 
paying  twenty-five  dollars  annually  may  represent  it- 
self in  this  body  until  the  contributions  shall  reach 
one  hundred  dollars,  constituting  a  life-member- 
ship.' "  The  meaning  of  this  last  clause  seems  to 
be  obscure,  uncertain  whether  the  church  or  an  in- 
dividual is  to  be  the  life-member  on  the  basis  of 
these  payments,  the  church  meantime  having  a  tem- 
porary representation.  Probably  the  latter  was  in- 
tended, for  thus  the  church  would  be  accorded  some 
recognition  without  permanent  departure  from  the 
fundamental  position  of  the  Union  on  life-mem- 
berships. This  interpretation  is  sustained  by  the 
fact  that  Doctor  Colver  had  previously  placed  him- 
self on  record  as  opposed  to  church  representation 
("The  Christian  Reflector,"  September  2,  1847). 
But  whatever  its  meaning,  the  resolution  was  laid 
on  the  table.  Having  thus  disposed  of  Colver's 
scheme,  the  Board  "  recommended  to  the  Union,  at 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST   MISSIONARY   UNION    39 

its  next  session,  the  following  alterations  to  the 
third  article  of  the  constitution  " — words  providing 
for  annual  memberships  at  fifty  dollars  each.  When 
this  reached  the  Union,  1852,  it  was  negatived  by  a 
majority  of  eight  in  a  total  vote  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty,  without  debate  (13). 

For  seven  years  next  following,  the  Union  had 
rest  from  trouble  directly  on  the  revision  of  the 
constitution.  But  trouble  enough  of  other  kinds 
appeared.  A  deputation  went  East  and  an  agita- 
tion arose.  Some  cherished  plans  of  the  mission- 
aries suffered  interruption,  at  which  they  were 
grieved.  They  also  felt  that  in  other  ways  a  dis- 
position was  manifested  to  develop  a  more  central- 
ized or  imperious  control  at  home.  A  revolt  thence 
arose,  and  the  secession  of  several  missionaries  be- 
came a  serious  menace  to  the  work.  The  protest- 
ants  were  not  reticent,  and  their  complaints  ran  into 
the  character  of  the  administration,  even  to  the  con- 
stituency of  the  Union.  Thus  the  slumbering  oppo- 
sition to  the  sole  life-membership  plan  received  en- 
couragement from  a  new  quarter.  Soon  two  propo- 
sitions pressed  for  recognition — one  on  a  simplifica- 
tion of  the  administration  of  the  Missionary  Union, 
and  another  on  the  consolidation  into  one  of  the 
missionary  organizations  of  the  denomination. 
These,  especially  the  last,  carried,  either  in  solu- 
tion or  openly  precipitated,  the  desire  for  a  change 
of  basis  of  control  (14).  This  brings  us  to  the 
threshold  of  some  new  lines  of  procedure. 


40  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

In  1858  "  a  paper  from  a  meeting  of  ministers  in 
Boston  on  the  consolidation  of  our  denominational 
societies,"  was  laid  before  the  Board,  and  by  it  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  which  reported  recommend- 
ing the  Union  to  appoint  a  committee,  in  response 
to  similar  action  by  the  Publication  and  Home  Mis- 
sion Societies,  to  report  the  following  year.  This 
recommendation  was  adopted  by  the  Union.  Also 
a  committee  was  named  by  the  Board  to  consider  the 
simplification  of  the  organization  of  the  Union  it- 
self, with  special  reference  to  saving  time  at  the 
annual  meetings.  This  committee,  while  recognizing 
the  imperfections  of  the  constitution,  still  thought 
its  efficiency  hitherto  a  good  reason  for  leaving  it 
undisturbed ;  but  suggested  that  "  some  practical  em- 
barrassment complained  of  might  be  relieved  were 
the  Board  to  affirm  the  decision  of  the  chair 
this  morning,  that  members  of  the  Union  have  the 
right  to  submit  motions  to  the  Board."  Hon.  J. 
M.  Linnard  submitted  a  minority  report  in  view  of 
the  decision  to  leave  the  constitution  untouched,  in 
which  he  proposed  that  business  be  brought  directly 
before  the  Union  and  disposed  of  without  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Board.  This  was  amended  to  pro- 
vide that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  report  the 
next  year  any  amendments  to  the  constitution  that  it 
might  deem  expedient.  Neither  of  these  actions 
under  which  the  two  committees  went  out  to  pre- 
pare for  the  next  year  may  seem  relevant  to  constitu- 
ency directly,  but  indirectly  they  bear  on  it,  as  the 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST    MISSIONARY    UNION     4I 

outcome  will  show.  Behind  them  was  a  popular  call 
for  representation  in  the  Missionary  Union,  which 
they  somewhat  voiced  and  which  they  will  feel  more 
forcefully  in  a  short  time. 

In  1859  the  committee  of  the  Board  on  revision 
proposed  various  modifications  addressed  mainly 
to  the  principal  points  in  the  discussions  of  the 
preceding  year.  On  constituency  it  proposed,  which 
proposition  was  adopted  by  the  Union,  annual  mem- 
berships as  follows:  "  Regular  Baptist  churches  con- 
tributing annually  to  the  Union,  funds  not  desig- 
nated for  life-membership,  may  appoint  each  one 
annual  member,  and  an  additional  annual  member 
for  every  one  hundred  dollars  contributed."  So  it 
stands  in  the  report  of  the  majority  of  the  com- 
mittee and  amended  in  the  Board.  Doctor  Welch 
submitted  a  minority  report,  but  who,  if  any  one, 
was  with  him,  or  wherein  his  proposal  differed  from 
the  majority,  the  records  do  not  show.  (The  ma- 
jority report  had  required  two  hundred  dollars  for 
each  additional  representative  of  a  Baptist  church, 
but  in  the  Board  this  was  reduced  to  one  hundred.) 

When  the  Union  assembled  it  received  a  com- 
munication of  such  significance  as  to  warrant  seri- 
ous attention.  It  was  from  a  convention  of  Bap- 
tists who  had  met  in  New  York  tluring  the  pre- 
ceding week  on  a  call  from  a  committee  of  the 
New  York  State  Convention.  It  consisted  of  "  over 
eight  hundred  delegates  from  nearly  five  hundred 
churches  and  other  corresponding  bodies  located  in 


42  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

the  Eastern,  Middle,  and  Northwestern  States,"  to 
consider  "  the  expediency  of  consohdating  or  re- 
constructing the  benevolent  societies  connected  with 
the  Baptist  denomination."  Covering  the  topics  of 
consolidation  and  simplification,  ten  resolutions  had 
been  adopted,  which  were  now  submitted  to  the 
Missionary  Union.  Of  these,  the  seventh  touched 
constituency  as  follows :  "  That  in  the  opinion  of 
this  Convention  an  elective  membership  of  annual 
delegations  should  be  substituted  for  life-member- 
ship in  all  our  general  organizations,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  done  consistently  with  existing  obligations  to 
life-members."  (This  convention  will  have  fuller 
attention  under  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention.) 

The  popular  pressure,  which  reached  the  high 
tide  of  its  expression  in  the  convention  just  noted, 
seems  to  have  been  felt  by  the  Board,  for,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  amendment  admitting  annual  members 
from  the  churches,  it  proposed  also  the  abolishing 
of  its  own  meeting  before  the  meeting  of  the  Union, 
and  granting  the  right  to  the  Union  to  act  inde- 
pendently of  the  Board  in  proposing  amendments 
and  acting  on  them  after  one  year's  notice.  This 
was  also  adopted  by  the  Union,  which  proceeded  to 
use  its  new  authority  in  proposing  several  amend- 
ments for  consideration  the  next  year. 

In  i860  "  the  various  amendments  to  the  con- 
stitution "  were  given  to  a  committee  of  nine,  who 
returned  them  the  next  day  with  some  modifications, 
and  they  were  again  postponed  for  a  year.    In  1861, 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST   MISSIONARY   UNION    43 

out  of  the  whole  material  thus  accumulated,  this 
was  adopted :  The  continuance  of  all  life-members 
"  constituted  such  previous  to  the  adoption  of  this 
amended  constitution,  and  who  shall  not  voluntarily 
surrender  their  right  " ;  one  annual  member  from 
any  regular  Baptist  church  contributing;  a  second 
annual  member  if  the  contribution  reaches  one 
hundred  dollars ;  and  an  additional  one  for  every 
additional  two  hundred  dollars;  "any  individual 
may  constitute  himself,  by  the  payment  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  a  member  for  one  year  " ;  any  indi- 
vidual, church,  or  local  Association  of  the  Baptist 
denomination  that  supports  a  missionary  or  mis- 
sionaries may  name  an  annual  member  for  every 
hundred  dollars  contributed ;  and  "  any  individual 
may  be  an  honorary  member  for  life  by  the  payment 
during  one  financial  year  of  not  less  than  one 
hundred  dollars,"  every  honorary  member  having 
a  vote  so  long  as  he  continues  an  annual  contributor 
"  and  a  member  in  good  standing  in  a  regular  Bap- 
tist church."  And  having  done  all  this  in  celebra- 
tion, perchance,  of  their  emancipation,  the  brethren 
rested  on  their  laurels  for  eleven  years  (15). 

But,  in  1872,  attention  to  revision  was  aroused 
by  the  president  of  the  Union,  Pres.  Martin  B.  An- 
derson, who,  in  his  opening  address,  suggested  that 
our  organization  should  be  changed,  so  as  to  secure 
a  comparatively  small  body  for  deliberation,  and  a 
series  of  mass  meetings,  for  several  days  in  succes- 
sion, at  various  points  in  our  country."     This  sug- 


44  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

gestion  was  referred  to  a  committee  that  sub- 
mitted a  report,  not  recorded,  which,  after  being 
"  discussed  at  length,"  was  entrusted  to  the  Board 
to  be  carried  over  to  the  following  year.  A  com- 
mittee of  the  Board,  after  consultation  with  "  similar 
committees  "  of  the  Home  Mission  and  Publication 
Societies,  recommended  that  the  article  on  con- 
stituency in  the  constitution  be  struck  out,  and  its 
place  taken  by  a  system  of  representatives  of  State 
Conventions  and  general  Associations  and  the  Brit- 
ish Provinces  of  North  America,  seven  from  each, 
and  one  additional  for  every  four  thousand  church- 
members.  But  the  Board  threw  this  whole  scheme 
overboard  and  reported  adversely  to  any  change  in 
the  constitution.  Its  report  was  adopted  by  the 
Union,  1873,  whereupon  Dr.  Franklin  Johnson  gave 
notice  of  his  intention  to  present  the  rejected  pro- 
posal to  the  Union,  but  this  intention  was  never 
executed  by  him  or  any  one  else  so  far  as  appears. 

Ten  years  of  silence  on  this  line  followed,  when 
another  movement  started  in  the  Board,  under  what 
impulse  does  not  appear ;  but  out  of  it  nothing  came 
except  the  acceptance  of  all  missionaries  of  the 
Union  as  members  by  virtue  of  their  office.  This 
was  in  1884,  after  which  revision  was  postponed  for 
three  consecutive  years  on  the  plea  of  pressure  of 
important  business,  and  then  silence  became  per- 
petual. 

After  careful  consideration,  running  through 
three  years,  considerable  revision  in  details  was  ac- 


THE   AMERICAN    BAPTIST   MISSIONARY   UNION    45 

complished  in  1895.  Two  points  touched  terms  of 
membership.  First,  the  amount  on  which  a  church 
might  send  an  additional  representative  was  reduced 
from  two  hundred  dollars  to  one  hundred  dollars. 
The  most  significant  feature  in  this  action  was  the 
avowed  purpose  of  it,  "  to  increase  the  representa- 
tion from  the  churches  in  the  annual  meetings  of 
the  Union."  The  significance  of  this  is  accentuated 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  the  first  time  in  the  records 
of  the  Missionary  Union  that  this  idea  finds  place. 
It  appears  in  the  fiftieth  year  from  the  origin  of 
the  Union,  and  may  be  regarded  as  marking  the 
culmination  of  that  conflict  over  constituency  which 
had  been  continuous,  more  or  less  and  actively  or 
passively,  nearly  all  the  way.  Secondly,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  no  person  should  be  a  member  or  vote 
unless  a  member  in  good  standing  in  a  regular  Bap- 
tist church.  These  two  actions  close  the  course  in 
the  nineteenth  century  and  open  the  way  to  the 
radical  and  comprehensive  adjustments  reaching  all 
the  general  organizations  of  the  Northern  States 
in  the  first  decade  of  the  twentieth  century. 


Ill 

THE    STATE    CONVENTIONS 

During  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  State  Conventions  bloomed  into  a  position  of  in- 
terest to  our  present  purpose.  Briefly  we  turn  to 
them  for  such  Hght  as  they  may  afford.  We  notice 
their  utterances  on  constituency,  also  slightly  as 
sidelights  on  the  situations  amid  which  they  arose 
and  the  purposes  which  they  cherished.  Our  atten- 
tion is  confined  to  those  originating  in  this  decade, 
because  they  set  forth  substantially  all  that  we  re- 
quire. We  take  them  in  the  order  of  the  dates  at 
which  they  adopted  their  first  constitutions. 

GEORGIA 

The  movement  toward  the  General  Association  of 
Georgia  began  in  the  Sarepta  Association,  1820. 
In  the  next  year  the  Georgia  and  Ocmulgee  Asso- 
ciations supported  it.  The  Georgia  called  a  meeting 
of  representatives  of  Associations  to  consummate 
the  movement,  to  convene  at  Powelton,  June  27, 
1822.  Before  that  date  Sarepta  had  met  with  a 
change  of  mind,  and  only  the  other  two  appeared. 
But  their  few  delegates  invited  to  seats  with  them 
all  the  members  of  the  church  with  which  they  were 
assembled  and  all  brethren  present  who  were  mem- 
46 


THE   STATE   CONVENTIONS  47 

bers  of  other  Baptist  churches.  Rev.  A.  Sherwood, 
who  had  set  the  ball  rolling  originally,  preached  a 
powerful  "  written  discourse  "  on  the  divisions  and 
jealousies  in  the  State.  He  was  followed  by  Rev. 
Jesse  Mercer,  first  in  a  prayer  of  the  same  tone, 
and  secondly,  in  an  exhortation  "  melting  the  entire 
assembly  to  tears."  The  constitution  named  as  con- 
stituents the  '*  Baptist  Associations  in  the  State  of 
Georgia,  or  as  many  of  them  as  may  think  proper 
to  accede  to  the  terms  of  this  Convention."  "  The 
General  Baptist  Association  of  the  State  of 
Georgia "  proposed  to  be  "  the  organ  of  general 
communication  for  the  denomination  throughout  the 
State,"  and  to  give  advice  on  application.  Delegates 
were  to  be  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  five 
from  each  Association.  The  purposes  in  particular 
were  to  facilitate  "  union  and  co-operation  "  and 
"  the  revival  of  experimental  and  practical  religion," 
"  to  promote  uniformity  of  sentiment  and  disci- 
pline," provide  for  ministerial  education,  to  "  corre- 
spond with  bodies  of  other  religious  denominations 
on  topics  of  general  interest  to  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom,  and  to  promote  pious  and  useful  educa- 
tion in  the  Baptist  denomination." 

SOUTH    CAROLINA 

This  body  dates  from  1821,  but  its  constitution 
was  adopted  on  December  2,  1822,  having  been  pre- 
sented by  a  committee  appointed  two  days  earlier. 
This  action  had  been  deferred  from  the  preceding 


48  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

year  in  the  hope  of  securing  a  fuller  representation 
of  the  Associations.  "  The  State  Convention  of  the 
Baptist  Denomination  in  South  Carolina  "  was  the 
name  of  the  organization.  It  proposed  to  "  consist 
of  Delegates  from  the  several  Baptist  Associations 
in  the  State,  who  may  approve  the  measures  here 
adopted ;  and  of  Representatives  from  other  religious 
bodies  of  the  Baptist  connection,  concerned  in  the 
promotion  of  the  same  objects  with  the  Convention : 
the  number  of  Delegates  and  Representatives  bearing 
always  a  just  proportion  to  the  number  of  their  con- 
stituents." The  purposes  proposed  Avere  increase  of 
evangelical  and  useful  knowledge,  "  vital,  practical 
religion,"  education,  particularly  for  the  ministry, 
missions  "  among  the  destitute  both  at  home  and 
abroad,"  Sunday-schools  and  "  religious  education 
in  families,"  "  it  being  understood  that  the  whole 
is  to  be  conducted  on  a  plan  of  accordance  with 
that  adopted  and  pursued  by  the  General  Conven- 
tion of  the  Baptist  denomination  in  the  United 
States,  and  generally  in  aid  of  their  important,  laud- 
able undertakings."  It  was  provided  in  the  plan 
that  was  outlined  that  the  distribution  of  funds 
should  be  at  the  discretion  of  the  Convention  or  its 
Board,  subject  to  the  wishes  of  the  donors  of  desig- 
nated contributions,  with  the  understanding  that  "  a 
valuable  part  "of  the  general  fund  should  go  to  the 
General  Convention,  for  foreign  missions  and  min- 
isterial education,  the  remainder  to  be  used  at 
home. 


THE   STATE   CONVENTIONS  49 

VIRGINIA 

The  last  meeting  of  the  General  Committee  of 
Correspondence,  which  was  the  second  State-wide 
body  of  Virginia  Baptists,  was  in   1822.     Having 
nothing  to  do,  this  organization  had  dwindled  until 
this  meeting  was  composed  of  only  three  persons, 
who  decided  to  let  it  die.    But  on  the  way  home  two 
of  them,  James  Fife  and  Edward  Baptist,  planned 
a  successor  with  larger  purposes.    In  consequence  of 
prejudice  against  the  title  "  Convention,"  they  called 
it  "  General  Association."    On  June  7,  1823,  a  few 
persons  met  in  Richmond  and  started  it,  to  be  "  com- 
posed  of   representatives   from   the   several   Asso- 
ciations in  the  State,  which  may  choose  to  unite," 
four  from  each,  without  financial  conditions;  and 
of  representatives  from  Bai)tist  missionary  societies 
in  the  State,  one  representative  from  each  society  on 
the  basis  of  twenty  dollars   annually;  and   "each 
society  contributing  fifty  dollars  annually,  or  up- 
ward, shall  be  entitled  to  two  representatives."    The 
purpose  was  to  furnish  "  ministerial  labors  in  desti- 
tute places  in  the  State."     The  Associations  were 
left  free  to  raise  funds  in  any  way  preferred,  and  a 
])lan  for  auxiliary  societies  was  recommended. 

ALABAMA 

"  Delegates  from  the  several  societies  of  counties, 
congregations,  and  villages  met  at  Greenborough, 
October  28,  1823,  adopted  a  constitution,  elected 
a  Board  of  Managers,  and  appointed  fifteen  domes- 


50  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

tic  missionaries  "  for  work  in  the  State  and  west 
Florida.  This  information  is  in  a  letter  from  Rev. 
J.  A.  Ranaldson,  secretary  of  the  Convention  and  its 
chief  promoter,  written  a  month  after  its  organiza- 
tion. He  states  that  seventeen  county  societies 
auxiliary,  and  nearly  the  same  number  of  "  Ladies' 
societies,"  had  been  formed  at  that  time  ("  Latter 
Day  Luminary,"  January,  1824,  p.  19).  "  The  His- 
tory of  the  Baptists  of  Alabama,"  by  Dr.  B.  F. 
Riley,  pp.  37,  38,  says  that  about  twenty  delegates 
were  present  and  that  nearly  half  of  them  were 
from  seven  women's  societies.  The  constitution 
gives  the  name,  "  The  Baptist  State  Convention  of 
Alabama,"  to  consist  of  "  delegates  from  missionary 
societies,  churches,  Associations,  or  other  religious 
bodies,  which  may  regularly  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port of  its  objects.  Each  church  and  congregational 
or  village  society  shall  be  entitled  to  one  representa- 
tive— county  societies  to  three  and  Associations  to 
five."  Strong  preference  appeared  for  the  county 
method.  The  objects  named  were  missions,  "  re- 
ligious instruction  throughout  the  State,"  and  aid 
for  the  General  Convention  in  foreign  missions  and 
ministerial  education. 

CONNECTICUT 

In  1822  the  Hartford  Association  appointed  a 
committee  to  call  a  meeting  in  the  November  follow- 
ing, one  representative  from  each  church,  to  devise 
a  plan   for  a  State  Convention.     The  meeting  in 


THE    STATE    CONVENTIONS  $1 

response  sent  out  a  plan,  an  address,  and  a  call  to 
the  churches  to  send  representatives  to  an  adjourned 
meeting,  October  29,  1823.  Thirty  churches  sent 
representatives,  who  organized,  "  with  much  har- 
mony," "  The  General  Convention  of  the  Baptist 
Churches  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  and  Vicinity." 
It  began  with  a  strictly  church  constituency,  but  the 
next  year  it  added  "  any  other  Associations  or  indi- 
viduals conforming  to  the  constitution  and  con- 
tributing five  dollars  a  year.  This  eventually  intro- 
duced quite  a  number  of  useful  delegates."  The 
lowness  of  the  membership  fee  seemed  to  add  at- 
tractiveness to  the  connection.  In  1814  "  The  Con- 
necticut Society  Auxiliary  to  the  Baptist  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions "  had  been  founded.  On  the 
appearance  of  the  State  Convention  it  disbanded, 
turning  over  its  concerns  to  the  new  organization, 
which  left  missions,  home  and  foreign,  in  the  hands 
of  the  latter. 

MAINE 

"  The  Baptist  Convention  of  the  State  of  Maine  " 
adopted  its  constitution  June  24,  1824.  It  was  orig- 
inated by  delegates  from  four  Associations,  the 
movement  here  culminating  having  begun  in  the 
Cumberland  Association  in  1822.  It  was  to  be 
"  composed  of  delegates  chosen  by  the  several  As- 
sociations in  Maine  in  such  manner  as  each  Asso- 
ciation shall  prescribe,"  one  for  every  ten  churches. 
Its  objects  were  to  promote  acquaintance  between 


52  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

churches  and  Associations,  to  cultivate  brotherly 
love,  to  aid  needy  ministers  and  students  for  the 
ministry,  to  promote  union  in  doctrine  and  church 
discipline,  domestic  and  foreign  missions,  and  "  the 
general  interests  of  Zion  in  this  State,  and  as  far 
as  our  influence  may  extend." 

MASSACHUSETTS 

Some  brethren  attending  the  meeting  of  the 
Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  May  26, 
1824,  named  a  committee  to  prepare  and  circulate  a 
call  for  a  meeting  to  found  a  State  Convention,  and 
with  this  call  a  proposed  constitution.  The  meet- 
ing thus  induced  convened  November  10,  and 
adopted  the  proposed  constitution  after  full  discus- 
sion and  some  amendments.  The  great  object  of 
the  "  Baptist  Convention  of  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts "  was  declared  to  be  "  to  promote  the  cause 
of  Christ  by  means  of  affording  greater  facilities 
for  concert  and  co-operation  among  the  Baptist 
churches  in  Massachusetts  and  other  churches  as- 
sociated with  them "  [in  Associations  extending 
into  other  States].  The  constituency  was  solely  in 
Associations,  one  representative  for  every  five 
churches.  Provision  was  made  for  correspondence 
with  similar  conventions  in  other  States,  and  with 
other  religious  bodies,  including  the  General  Con- 
vention, Triennial,  and  that  other  General  Con- 
vention then  anticipated  to  "  be  formed  from  State 
Conventions." 


THE    STATE    CONVENTIONS  53 

VERMONT 

The  beginning  in  this  State  was  in  October,  1823, 
when  a  number  of  brethren  "  met  in  conference  or 
sort  of  convention  "  to  consider  the  founding  of  a 
State  organization.     They   appointed   a   committee 
to  draft  a  constitution  and  call  a  convention  from 
churches   and   Associations.      This    resulted    in   the 
organization,   October  26,    1824,   of   "  The    Baptist 
Convention  of  the  State  of  Vermont  and  Vicinity." 
The  vicinity  was  lower  Canada.    The  object  of  the 
Convention  was  "  to  unite  the  wisdom  and  energies 
of  the  Baptist  denomination  in  this  State  and  vicinity 
...  in  missions  and  other  important  measures  for 
the  advance   of   the   Redeemer's   kingdom."     Pro- 
vision was  made  for  contributions  to  the  General 
Convention  for  foreign  missions.     The  constituency 
was  in  Associations,  missionary  and  education  so- 
cieties,  and   individuals.      Each   of   such   organiza- 
tions contributing  any  amount  might  send  one  dele- 
gate, and  two  if  the  amount  reached  fifty  dollars. 
Any   individual   contributing   five   dollars   annually 
might  be  a  member  for  life,  and,  for  fifty  dollars 
at  one  time,  a  life-member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 
Missionary  societies  in  the  churches  were  urgently 
recommended. 

RHODE    ISL.\ND 

The  original  intention  w^as  to  include  Rhode  Is- 
land in  the  Massachusetts  Convention,  but  this  was 
abandoned.    On  May  12,  1825,  "  a  number  of  minis- 


54  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

ters  and  brethren  of  the  associated  Baptist  churches 
in  this  State  and  vicinity  "  met  in  Providence,  or- 
ganized the  "  Rhode  Island  State  Convention," 
adopted  a  constitution,  and  adjourned  to  August 
4,  "  to  give  time  for  further  reflection,"  when,  after 
amendments,  the  constitution  was  finally  adopted 
and  the  organization  completed.  This  meeting 
represented  eight  churches  in  Rhode  Island  and 
three  in  Massachusetts.  It  proposed  missions,  home 
and  foreign,  and  ministerial  education.  It  started 
a  paper,  which  soon  stopped.  Its  members  were 
to  be  representatives  of  churches  and  mission  so- 
cieties, with  individuals  on  the  basis  of  at  least 
one  dollar  each  annually. 

NEW    YORK 

"  The  Baptist  Missionary  Convention  of  the  State 
of  New  York "  resulted  from  the  union  of  two 
earlier  organizations — The  Hamilton  Missionary  So- 
ciety, originating  in  1807,  and  The  Baptist  Do- 
mestic Missionary  Convention  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  originating  in  1821.  The  union  of  these 
was  consummated  in  an  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  older  body.  May  18,  1825,  when  it  took 
the  name  standing  first  above.  It  was  to  be  com- 
posed of  those  who  subscribed  to  the  constitution 
and  paid  into  its  treasury  at  least  one  dollar  an- 
nually. Ten  dollars  in  cash  at  one  time  made  a 
life-member,  and  "  any  number  of  persons  asso- 
ciated for  missionary  purposes  upon  a  constitution 


THE   STATE   CONVENTIONS  55 

adapted  to  the  interests  of  this  Convention  may  be- 
come auxihary  to  this  Convention."  Any  member 
of  an  aiixihar}^  paying  his  dollar  to  it  thereby  be- 
came a  member  of  the  State  body,  and  any  auxiliary 
or  individual  might  name  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  on  the  payment  of  fifty  dollars,  and 
an  additional  member  for  each  additional  hundred 
dollars.  "  The  object  of  this  Convention  shall  be 
to  send  the  gospel  and  other  means  of  promoting 
the  knowledge  of  God  among  such  of  our  fellow- 
creatures  as  are  destitute,  and  that  either  stationary 
or  occasional  as  prudence  may  dictate  and  funds 
admit."  In  connection  with  this  reorganization  and 
combination,  an  enthusiastic  address  was  sent  out, 
carrying  a  scheme  in  which  every  Association  might 
become  an  auxiliary,  every  church  a  branch  of  the 
auxiliary,  and  every  church-member  a  contributor 
to  this  branch  for  missions,  all  to  be  gathered  to- 
gether in  the  State  fund. 

NEW    HAMPSHIRE 

"  Pursuant  to  previous  appointment,  delegates 
from  several  churches  in  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire met  ,  June  21,  1825,  for  the  purpose  of 

forming  a  State  Convention."  The  constitution  pre- 
sented by  a  committee,  previously  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  was  adopted  after  being  amended  in 
one  point,  "  so  as  to  leave  it  optional  with  the 
churches  to  elect  such  persons  as  delegates  to  the 
Convention  as  they  may  think  proper."     This  in- 


56  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

dicates  that  the  original  draft  placed  some  restric- 
tion on  the  churches  in  this  particular,  but  what  is 
not  known.  At  the  meeting  next  year  sixteen 
churches  were  represented.  A  chartei  of  incorpora- 
tion appeared,  and  the  delegates  mentioned  in  it 
were  authorized  to  "  form  themselves  into  The 
Baptist  Convention  of  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire." By-laws  and  regulations  were  adopted,  from 
which  it  appears  that  all  pastors  of  Baptist  churches 
in  the  State  were  ex-officio  members,  and  other  min- 
isters and  brethren  as  they  might  be  appointed  by 
Baptist  Associations  "  wholly  or  in  part  within  the 
bounds  of  this  State."  The  charter  authorized  the 
Convention  to  hold  and  use  property  for  home  and 
foreign  missions,  ministerial  education,  "  and  any 
other  religious  charities  which  they  may  deem 
proper." 

OHIO 

"  The  Convention  of  the  Baptist  Denomination 
in  the  State  of  Ohio  "  was  organized  May  22,  1826, 
and  its  constitution  adopted  the  next  day,  by  a  con- 
vention called  by  the  Cincinnati  Baptist  Mission  So- 
ciety. The  members  of  this  organizing  assembly 
were  all  from  churches,  except  those  from  two  gen- 
eral missionary  societies  and  two  special — one  of 
women  and  the  other  of  youth.  The  constitution 
provided  for  delegates  from  churches,  Associations, 
and  societies,  churches  and  societies  being  restricted 
to  one  delegate  each  and  Associations  to  three — all 


THE   STATE   CONVENTIONS  57 

on  condition  of  contributing  to  the  Convention's 
funds.  The  purpose  was  to  promote  "  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  Redeemer's  cause,  particularly 
within  the  bounds  of  this  State." 

PENNSYLVANIA 

The  Philadelphia  Association,  on  suggestion  of 
the  Lower  Merion  Church,  instituted  the  move- 
ment for  a  State  organization,  in  1823,  by  naming 
a  committee  to  correspond  with  other  Associations. 
Two  years  later  this  committee  begged  to  be  dis- 
charged, seeming  to  have  failed  to  get  any  response, 
and  the  business  was  referred  to  the  "  Domestic 
[Philadelphia]  Missionary  Society."  But  nothing 
appears  to  have  been  done  until  a  meeting  of  rep- 
resentatives of  five  local  missionary  societies  (16), 
which  resulted  in  the  organization,  July  4,  1827, 
of  "  The  Baptist  General  Association  of  Pennsyl- 
vania for  Missionary  Purposes."  Its  design  was 
"  to  spread  the  gospel  in  Pennsylvania,  and  to  ex- 
tend its  operations  to  other  States,  as  its  funds  may 
allow."  Membership,  individual  or  society,  was  con- 
ditioned on  ten  dollars,  one  representative  from  a 
society  for  every  ten  dollars. 

NORTH    C.\R0LINA 

At  its  meeting,  March  26,  1830.  the  North  Caro- 
lina Baptist  Benevolent  Society,  then  three  or  four 
years  old,  adopted  "  without  a  dissenting  voice,"  the 
resolution  "  That  this  Societv  be  transformed  into  a 


58  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED  FOR   MISSIONS 

State  Convention."  The  constitution  of  this,  "  The 
Baptist  State  Convention  of  North  CaroHna," 
adopted  at  the  same  time,  names  as  "  primary  ob- 
jects," education  for  the  ministry  of  those  approved 
by  the  churches  to  which  they  belong,  mission  vv^ork 
in  the  State,  and  "  co-operation  with  the  Baptist 
General  Convention  of  the  United  States  in  the  pro- 
motion of  missions  in  general."  Membership  was 
open  to  any  Association,  church,  society,  or  indi- 
vidual, on  the  basis  of  Baptist  church-membership 
and  "  every  ten  dollars  paid  into  the  treasury." 

NEW    JERSEY 

Agitation  for  a  State  organization  began  not 
later  than  1823.  The  result  appeared,  July  27,  1830, 
in  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  churches  and 
the  New  Jersey  Missionary  Society,  at  which  "  The 
New  Jersey  Baptist  State  Convention  for  Mission- 
ary Purposes  "  was  organized  and  its  constitution 
adopted,  with  the  "  primary  object  "  to  "  spread  the 
gospel  in  New  Jersey,  and  to  extend  its  operations 
as  its  funds  may  allow."  Any  person  or  society  con- 
tributing ten  dollars  or  more  annually  might  have 
one  representative  for  every  ten  dollars,  "  provided 
that  every  representative  shall  be  a  member  of,  or 
delegated  by,  some  particular  Baptist  church  or 
society." 

Analysis  of  these  fifteen  State  Conventions,  orig- 
inating in  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century, 


THE   STATE   CONVENTIONS  59 

with  reference  to  their  first  constituencies,  shows 
seven  bases,  variously  combined.  They  were  the 
Association,  the  missionary  society,  the  education 
society,  any  Baptist  society,  any  local  society,  as 
county,  etc.,  the  church,  and  the  individual.  They 
agreed  on  the  financial  condition  in  much  variety. 
They  show  that  the  Baptists  in  this  field  were  far 
from  uniformity,  and  they  partly  explain  those 
differences,  adjustments,  and  fluctuations  that  ap- 
peared early  and  have  persisted  to  the  present  time. 


IV 

THE    AMERICAN    BAPTIST    PUBLICATION    SOCIETY 

The  Baptist  General  Tract  Society  originated  in 
the  concurrent  convictions  of  individuals  and  their 
union  in  an  organization  of  that  name.  The  state- 
ment of  its  purpose,  in  its  constitution  of  February 
20,  1824,  took  this  simple  form:  "Its  sole  object 
shall  be  to  disseminate  evangelical  truth  and  to  in- 
culcate sound  morals  by  the  distribution  of  tracts." 
Although  not  embodied  in  the  constitution,  two 
sentiments  found  otherwise  clear  declaration.  One 
related  to  the  dissemination  of  distinctively  Baptist 
views,  and  the  other  avowed  the  purpose  and  ex- 
pectation to  promote  denominational  unity.  The 
Society  declined  to  become  -at  all  auxiliary  to  any 
interdenominational  organization,  or  allied  in  any 
way  with  such,  and  argued  the  importance  of  de- 
nominational independence  and  advocacy  beyond 
what  could  be  possible  in  any  alliance  of  that  nature. 
At  the  same  time  its  constituency  had  no  denom- 
inational quality, — indeed,  no  character  quality  of 
any  sort,  either  for  members  or  managers.  The 
whole  deliverance  of  the  constitution  concerning 
constituency  was  as  follows :  "  Any  person  may 
become  a  member  of  this  Society  by  paying  the 
sum  of  one  dollar  annually.  The  payment  of  ten 
60 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    PUBLICATION    SOCIETY        6l 

dollars  at  one  time  shall  constitute  a  person  a  mem- 
ber for  life.  .  .  Any  person  by  paying  twenty-five 
dollars  at  one  time  shall  be  a  director  for  life.  The 
presidents  of  auxiliary  societies  shall  be  ex-officio 
members  of  the  Board  of  Directors."  It  was  also 
provided  that  the  Society  should  elect  seven  direc- 
tors annually,  and  that  the  officers  of  the  Society, 
chosen  at  the  same  time,  should  be  ex-officiis  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Directors.  This  Board  was 
given  entire  control  of  the  administration,  including 
the  selection  of  publications.  Thus  the  whole  con- 
trol lay  in  the  individuals  constituting  the  Society, 
totally  without  conditions  except  the  one  dollar  or 
the  ten  dollars  or  the  twenty-five  dollars.  This  re- 
produced the  earlier  missionary  society  constituency, 
on  the  sole  basis  of  money,  as  it  had  not  been  re- 
produced by  any  State  Convention  or  other  mis- 
sionary organization,  and  it  entirely  abandoned  the 
denominational  organization  and  character  as  basis ; 
for  it  did  not  provide  for  representation  from  any 
Baptist  bodies,  except  as  its  auxiliaries  might  be 
such,  these  being  recognized  only  as  substantially 
a  part  of  itself;  and  in  the  form  of  constitution 
which  it  recommended  to  them,  no  condition  of 
membership  appeared  but  this :  "  Any  person  by 
paying  [fifty  cents  or  one  dollar]  annually,  may 
become  a  member."  Moreover,  it  provided  no  re- 
striction concerning  character  for  officers  or  man- 
agers, which  restriction  hitherto  had  been  common, 
if  not  invariable,  from  the  beginning,  in  America. 


62  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

These  provisions,  in  connection  with  the  right  of 
two-thirds  of  the  members  present  at  any  annual 
meeting  to  change  the  constitution  without  notice, 
made  it  possible,  by  the  use  of  money,  to  divert 
and  pervert  the  whole  institution  from  the  designs 
of  the  founders. 

With  slight  changes,  not  materially  affecting  the 
foregoing  statements,  the  constitution  continued  as 
at  first  for  sixteen  years.  The  Society  devoted  it- 
self to  its  simple  task,  and  found  friends  from  the 
start.  Its  first  annual  report,  1825,  shows  thirty- 
eight  auxiliaries,  ten  depositories,  and  twenty-five 
agents.  These  were  not  expensive,  and  tracts  were 
furnished  at  cost  to  all  in  any  way  co-operating. 
Questions  of  organization  and  administration  seem 
to  have  been  quietly  handled  when  they  arose.  The 
contrast  between  it  and  the  Triennial  Convention 
and  Missionary  Union  is  very  marked  in  this  par- 
ticular, and  in  less  degree  between  it  and  the  Home 
Mission  Society.  The  first  noticeable  change  per- 
tinent to  the  present  purpose  grew  out  of  a  re- 
organization that  was  called  for  by  expansion.  To 
that  we  proceed. 

In  1840  the  report  of  the  Board  was  largely  his- 
torical, showing  the  development  of  the  work  from 
the  beginning.  This  led  to  the  recognition  of  the 
call  to  more  rapid  expansion,  and  thence  the  mind 
of  the  meeting  moved,  with  apparent  unanimity, 
to  reorganization  adapted  to  larger  operations.  The 
name  became,  "  The  American  Baptist  Publication 


AMERICAN'    BAPTIST    PUBLICATION    SOCIETY        63 

and  Sunday  School  Society,"  with  its  object  "  to 
publish  such  books  as  are  needed  by  the  Baptist 
denomination,  and  to  promote  Sunday-schools  by 
such  measures  as  experience  may  prove  expedient." 
The  general  plan  of  organization  remained  the  same, 
with  one  important  exception — the  provision  that  all 
the  officers  and  directors,  including  a  vice-president 
from  each  State,  "  shall  be  members  of  Baptist 
churches."  Any  Sunday-school  or  tract  society 
might  become  an  auxiliary  by  a  simple  process, 
without  money,  with  one  delegate,  but  the  previous 
provision  for  representation  of  such  bodies  on  the 
Board  of  the  Society  ceased.  The  annual  member- 
ship continued  at  one  dollar,  but  the  life-member- 
ship rose  in  value  from  ten  to  twenty,  and  the  life- 
directorship  from  twenty-five  to  fifty.  The  num- 
ber of  directors,  which  was  at  first  seven  and  later 
fifteen,  was  now  carried  to  twenty-one. 

Fifteen  years  passed  with  only  slight  changes, 
when  another  general  revision  of  constitution  came 
in  this  manner:  In  1854  the  Board  was  instructed  to 
submit  to  the  Society  at  its  next  annual  meeting 
"  such  a  modification  of  the  constitution  as  will 
adapt  it  to  its  increasingly  national  character."  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Board  reported  that  while  it  did  not 
think  any  revision  possible  that  would  much  in- 
crease the  national  character  of  the  Society,  it  had 
obeyed  instructions,  and  it  laid  its  work  before  the 
body.  All  the  changes  proposed  were  adopted  in 
committee  of  the  whole  except  one,  but  the  Society 


64  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

in  its  final  action  reversed  this  exception,  restoring 
the  preference  of  the  Board  to  its  original  place. 
This  left  the  basis  of  membership  as  follows :  "  Any 
person  may  become  a  member  of  this  Society  by 
paying  annually  the  sum  of  five  dollars  [previously 
raised  from  one  to  two  dollars],  or  any  regular 
Baptist  church  [never  before  recognized],  or  auxili- 
ary society  may  appoint  a  member  by  the  annual 
contribution  of  five  dollars,  and  an  additional  mem- 
ber for  each  additional  twenty  dollars.  Twenty  dol- 
lars, paid  in  sums  of  not  less  than  five  dollars,  shall 
be  requisite  to  constitute  a  member  for  life,  and 
fifty  dollars,  or  a  sum,  which  in  addition  to  any  pre- 
vious contribution,  shall  amount  to  fifty  dollars, 
shall  be  requisite  to  constitute  a  manager  for  life." 
The  provision  that  officers  and  managers  must  be 
church-members  was  eliminated,  and  instead  of  it 
the  provision  was  inserted  that  one-half  of  the 
managers  might  be  ministers  of  the  gospel  (17). 

After  a  silence  of  seventeen  years  the  spirit  of 
revision  again  found  voice  in  1872,  when  a  com- 
mittee was  named  by  the  Society  to  consider  and 
recommend.  It  recommended  that  life-members 
and  honorary  life-members  be  restricted  to  those 
made  prior  to  June  i,  1873,  and  that  annual  dele- 
gates be  authorized  from  the  Conventions  and  Gen- 
eral Associations  of  the  States  and  Territories  of 
the  United  States  and  "  the  British  North  Amer- 
ican Provinces,"  seven  from  each,  and  an  addi- 
tional   delegate    for   every    four   thousand    Baptist 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    PUBLICATION    SOCIETY        65 

cluirch-members ;  also  three  representatives  from 
each  of  "  our  other  National  Denominational  So- 
cieties." The  committee  itself  proposed  that  this 
be  referred  to  the  Board  "  with  instructions  to  re- 
port at  the  next  annual  meeting."  It  was  referred 
"  with  power,"  and  the  Board  used  the  power  to 
suppress  it.  Thereupon  notice  was  given  that  it 
would  be  introduced  the  following  year.  But  the 
notice  seems  to  have  miscarried,  for  it  did  not 
appear  again. 

Another  silence  of  seventeen  years  brings  us  to 
1889,  when  the  final  action  prior  to  the  adjustments 
of  the  twentieth  century  was  taken.  In  that  year 
the  report  of  the  Board  e.xi)ressed  the  opinion  that 
"  the  time  has  come  when  the  Society  should  still 
more  fully  recognize  the  principle  of  church  dele- 
gation in  its  membership."  The  substitute  for  the 
third  article  of  the  constitution  as  now  proposed  by 
the  Boaril  was  approved  by  the  Society,  as  follows : 
"  This  Society  shall  be  composed  of  delegates,  an- 
nual members,  honorary  life-members,  and  life-man- 
agers. Any  Baptist  church,  in  union  with  the  de- 
nomination, and  contributing  to  the  Society,  may 
appoint  one  annual  delegate.  If  the  sum  contributed 
during  the  fiscal  year  amounts  to  one  hundred  dol- 
lars, the  church  may  appoint  a  second  delegate,  and 
an  additional  delegate  for  every  one  hundred  dollars 
contributed.  Any  District  or  State  Association  re- 
porting contributions  of  one  hundred  dollars  or 
upward  to  the  Society  during  its  last  fiscal  year  may 
E 


66  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

appoint  one  delegate.  Each  delegate  must  present 
to  the  secretary  of  the  Society  a  certificate  of  ap- 
pointment, signed  by  the  clerk  of  the  church  or 
Association  appointing  him.  Any  member  of  a 
regular  Baptist  church  may  become  a  member  of 
this  Society  by  paying  annually  the  sum  of  fifty 
dollars.  One  hundred  dollars,  paid  in  sums  of  not 
less  than  twenty  dollars  yearly,  shall  be  requisite  to 
constitute  a  member  for  life,  and  two  hundred  dol- 
lars paid  at  one  time  shall  be  requisite  to  constitute 
an  honorary  manager  for  life.  The  sum  named 
in  the  case  of  the  church,  Association,  annual  mem- 
ber, life-member,  and  manager,  must  be  paid  during 
the  fiscal  year  ending  the  thirty-first  of  March 
next  preceding  the  meeting  of  the  Society." 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    HOME    MISSION    SOCIETY 

The  definite  and  total  abandonment  of  home  mis- 
sions by  the  Triennial  Convention  left  that  field 
comparatively  vacant  in  the  face  of  great  need 
rapidly  increasing.  The  rise  of  the  State  Conven- 
tions, emphasizing  missions  within  State  borders, 
measurably  met  the  vacancy.  But  the  need  for  a 
national  combination  of  forces  in  this  interest 
pressed  accumulatingly  on  many  minds.  If  the  Tri- 
ennial Convention  had  faced  the  other  way  during 
the  last  half  of  the  third  decade  of  the  century,  if 
it  had  put  itself  into  the  home  field  and  blown  a 
bugle  for  support  there,  no  doubt  it  w'ould  have  been 
sustained  by  a  vigorous  following.  But  its  en- 
tanglements hastened  the  concentration  of  its  ef- 
forts otherwise,  and  its  actions  and  utterances  in 
1826  and  1829  turned  the  home  mission  hopes  of  its 
friends  away  from  it.  Meantime,  the  General  Tract 
Society  had  taken  up  one  line  of  operations  that 
the  advocates  of  a  national  organization  had  con- 
templated. Simultaneously  attention  had  been  more 
or  less  diverted  to  the  State  bodies,  then  getting  into 
action  against  considerable  criticism  and  opposition, 
which  might  be  expected  to  increase  and  intensify 
against  a  larger  combination.    But  defiant  of  all  ad- 

67 


68  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

verse  conditions,  the  larger  home  mission  sentiment 
Hved,  grew,  and  soon  found  expression. 

The  leadership  in  this  movement  appeared  in 
Massachusetts,  central  in  the  oldest  Baptist  society 
for  home  missions,  located  in  Boston.  Responsive 
to  the  desire  of  individuals  in  that  vicinity,  Jonathan 
Going  secured  leave  of  absence  from  his  pastorate 
in  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  went  on  a  tour  of  inspec- 
tion westward.  The  ardent  eyes  of  these  New  Eng- 
landers  were  specifically  on  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
though  generally  scanning  the  whole  nation.  The 
Massachusetts  Baptist  Missionary  Society  received 
Going's  report  and  widened  the  outlook.  It  sent  a 
deputation  for  consultation  and  arousement  to  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  with  the  result  that  the 
American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  was  or- 
ganized in  New  York,  April  27,  1832.  This  Society, 
arising  eighteen  years  after  the  General  Convention 
for  Foreign  Missions  and  eight  years  after  the  Gen- 
eral Tract  Society,  rounded  out  the  general  mis- 
sionary organization  of  American  Baptists  in  the 
three  bodies  that  were  destined  to  become  permanent 
and  powerful.    It  thus  discloses  a  high-tide  date. 

The  Home  Mission  Society  compressed  the  ex- 
pression of  its  purpose  into  this  terse  sentence: 
"  The  great  object  of  this  Society  shall  be  to  pro- 
mote the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  North  America." 
Its  scheme  of  constituency,  however,  was  not  so 
simple.  Gathered  from  several  articles  of  its  con- 
stitution, these  elements  appear:  Any  person  can 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    HOME    MISSION    SOCIETY      69 

become  a  member  by  "  contributing  annually  to  its 
funds,"  no  amount  named;  a  life-member  for  thirty 
dollars;  a  life-director  for  one  hundred  dollars; 
"  any  Baptist  church,  or  Association,  or  State  Con- 
vention, or  missionary  society  that  contributes  an- 
nually to  the  objects  of  this  Society,  shall  be  en- 
titled to  be  represented  by  one  or  more  delegates 
in  its  annual  meetings  " ;  "  any  Baptist  missionary 
society  may  become  auxiliary  by  agreeing  to  pay 
into  the  treasury  of  this  Society  the  whole  of  its 
surplus  funds  [above  what  it  expends  directly  in  its 
own  field],  and  sending  to  the  corresponding  secre- 
tary a  copy  of  its  constitution  and  annual  reports, 
mentioning  the  names  of  its  missionaries  and  the 
fields  of  their  operations  " ;  "  the  officers  of  auxili- 
ary societies  shall  be  ex-officio  directors  of  this  So- 
ciety " ;  but  "  all  the  officers,  executive  committee, 
agents,  and  missionaries  of  the  Society  shall  be 
members  of  some  regular  Baptist  church,  in  general 
union  with  the  body  of  that  denomination."  Con- 
stitutional amendment  was  provided  for  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  the  members,  on  recommendation 
by  the  Executive  Committee  or  motion  of  a  member 
after  one  year's  notice. 

The  avowed  conception  centrally  in  relation  to 
organization  of  the  Home  Mission  Society  at  its 
inception  was  very  broad  and  benevolent.  "  It  has 
never  been  designed  that  the  Society  should  narrow 
or  embarrass  the  operations  of  the  State  Con- 
ventions and  other  societies  less  extended   in  the 


yO  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

range  of  their  exertions,  now  laboring  in  the  field 
of  home  missions.  It  was  hoped  that  it  might  rather 
envelop  and  unite  them,  giving  greater  harmony 
of  effort  and  greater  efficiency,  and  preventing  alike 
the  embarrassing  interference  and  collision  of  two 
societies  in  the  same  sphere  of  labor,  and  the  neglect 
of  those  regions,  which,  though  greatly  destitute, 
were  without  the  purview  of  any  existing  institution. 
One  leading  object  in  the  establishment  of  the  So- 
ciety has  been  to  combine  in  one  sacred  brotherhood 
all  the  friends  of  domestic  missions  among  our  de- 
nomination throughout  the  United  States."  Details 
of  its  plans  justify  this  claim.  Any  Baptist  or- 
ganization, from  a  State  Convention  to  a  church  or 
less,  might  become  an  auxiliary  and  be  represented 
in  the  management  on  the  generous  terms  already 
stated. 

To  facilitate  responses  from  local  bodies,  the  So- 
ciety sent  out  two  forms  of  co-operative  organiza- 
tion, "  the  one  for  those  larger  societies,  whose 
labors  cover  an  extended  region,  and  who  are  them- 
selves surrounded  and  upheld  by  their  auxiliaries ; 
the  other  for  the  minor  institutions,  which  it  would 
be  desirable  to  form  within  the  limits  of  the  larger, 
and  comprising  the  male  or  female  members  of  a 
particular  church,  or  both,  or  the  inhabitants  of 
a  particular  town  or  county,  and  whose  labors  would 
be  directed  rather  to  the  accumulation  than  the  dis- 
bursement of  missionary  funds."  Both  of  these 
were  only  suggestive. 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    HOME   MISSION    SOCIETY      "Jl 

For  the  first  a  "  form  of  constitution  "  was  pro- 
posed. This  provided  for  the  membership  of  such 
individuals  as  contribute  to  its  funds,  either  directly 
or  through  any  auxiliary  to  it,  the  members  of  the 
sub-auxiliary  being  made  members  of  the  auxiliary 
on  the  basis  of  this  contribution,  thus  securing  a 
share  in  the  delegation  to  the  Home  Alission  Society. 
Accompanying  this  was  a  "  stipulation  "  between  the 
"  parent  society  ''  and  the  auxiliary,  in  seven  speci- 
fications. Drawn  from  these  two  documents,  these 
points  in  the  co-operation  may  be  set  down  here. 
The  auxiliary  must  operate  on  the  same  general 
principles  as  the  Society.  Its  funds,  after  meeting 
incidental  expenses,  shall  go  into  the  treasury  of  the 
Society,  "  with  directions  as  to  the  section  of  the 
country  in  which  it  shall  be  expended  in  missionary 
labors,  should  the  [local]  executive  committee  deem 
it  important  to  give  such  directions."  Right  to 
appoint  missionaries  was  granted  to  the  auxiliary 
under  reasonable  restrictions,  blank  commissions  be- 
ing provided  by  the  Society  for  that  purpose.  When 
more  funds  than  an  auxiliary  has  are  needed  in  its 
field,  the  Society  may  provide  them,  directly  or 
through  the  auxiliary.  Joint  appointments  of  agents, 
payments  of  their  salaries,  and  reception  of  their 
reports  were  provided  for.  "  Definite  arrangement 
where  practicable  shall  be  made  between  this  Society 
and  such  auxiliary  as  to  the  amount  or  propor- 
tion of  the  receipts  which  each  shall  receive."  The 
Society   reserved   the    right    to   co-operate    in    like 


^2  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

manner  with  any  other  organization  within  the 
bounds  of  the  auxihary,  but  not  connected  with  it. 

For  the  minor  bodies,  whether  deahng  directly 
with  the  Society  or  indirectly  through  an  auxiliary, 
"  rules  "  were  proposed,  in  connection  with  which 
these  minor  bodies  were  called  "  Auxiliary  Associa- 
tions," to  distinguish  them  from  the  auxiliaries  that 
have  the  "  constitution."  These  auxiliary  Associa- 
tions, while  officered  institutions,  were  understood 
to  be  practically  only  collecting  agencies,  with  quar- 
terly and  annual  meetings  reporting  to  a  larger 
body. 

This  plan  was  at  once  the  most  complex  and  the 
most  popular  appearing  so  far  among  us.  It  pro- 
vided a  method  by  which  any  company  of  Baptists, 
however  small  and  isolated,  might  become  con- 
stituent in  the  national  combination,  securing  the 
impetus  of  the  whole  and  preserving  its  own  auton- 
omy to  an  extent  conducive  to  its  sense  of  respon- 
sibility and  contributory  to  its  enthusiasm.  After 
the  plan  had  been  in  operation  for  nine  years,  the 
Society  issued  an  appendix  to  its  report,  composed 
of  extracts  from  the  communications  of  various 
State  bodies  and  an  exposition,  in  response  to  in- 
quiries, of  the  method,  in  all  of  which  no  note  of 
discontent  appeared.  This  explanatory  appendix 
was  continued  for  several  years,  touching  many 
points,  and  adapted  to  suppressing  any  dissatisfac- 
tion that  might  arise  as  well  as  promoting  the  multi- 
plication of  auxiliaries.     How  far  discontent  may 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    HOME    MISSION'    SOCIETY     73 

have  induced  these  promulgations  can  only  be  con- 
jectured. But  that  so  cumbersome  a  system  would 
sooner  or  later  run  into  trouble  was  inevitable,  and 
in  due  time  it  spoke  out  largely  though  quietly  and 
called  to  revision. 

In  1846  the  report  of  the  managers  revealed  the 
difficulty  and  proposed  a  remedy.  The  Board  said, 
"  The  principles  upon  which  the  constitution  of  the 
Society  is  constructed  were  originally  adopted  with 
the  laudable  purpose  of  combining  the  energies  and 
liberality  of  the  whole  denomination  in  a  great 
effort  to  promote  its  important  object.  With  that 
desire  in  view,  the  membership,  auxiliary  relation, 
and  representative  system  which  it  provides  for  are 
almost  unlimited,  being  based  to  a  great  extent  upon 
merely  nominal  contributions  to  its  funds.  Besides 
its  directorships  and  memberships  for  life,  pro- 
vision is  made  for  membership  by  an  annual  con- 
tribution of  any  amount  of  money,  however  small ; 
it  invests  with  the  full  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  Society,  any  number  of  delegates  which  may 
be  appointed  by  conventions.  Associations,  societies, 
and  churches  which  contribute  an  indefinite  sum  to 
the  treasury,  and  superadds  the  members  of  all 
auxiliary  bodies,  without  specifying  even  so  much 
as  an  indefinite  contribution  upon  which  their  mem- 
bership shall  be  based.  It  also  creates  fifty  directors 
annually,  who  are  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  the 
Society,  with  no  obligations  whatever  to  bear  its 
burdens,  and  renders  all  the  officers  of  the  auxiliary 


74  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

bodies,  by  virtue  of  their  offices,  directors  in  this. 
Ever  since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  it  has 
been  seriously  regarded  by  many  of  the  firm  friends 
of  the  Society  as  embodying  a  latitudinarian  com- 
pact vi^hich  admits  of  evils  without  a  sufficient  tend- 
ency to  counteracting  advantages;  which  confers 
privileges  without  that  strict  reference  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  equity  which  are  essential  to 
the  harmonious  co-operation  of  individuals;  and 
which  has  a  tendency  to  confuse  the  deliberations 
of  the  Society  and  its  Executive  Board.  The  So- 
ciety has  realized  more  or  less  inconvenience  from 
these  sources  at  its  anniversaries  in  the  difficulty, 
if  not  impossibility,  of  deciding  on  the  title  of 
claimants  to  a  vote,  and  the  successive  Boards  of 
management  also  have  suffered  embarrassment  from 
the  conflicting  policy  and  claims  of  its  auxiliaries. 
In  view  of  these  and  the  difficulties  that  may  here- 
after arise  out  of  them,  and  against  which  it  is 
wise  to  guard,  the  Executive  Board  have,  with  great 
unanimity,  agreed  to  recommend  certain  amend- 
ments to  that  instrument  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Society,  believing  that,  under  existing  circumstances, 
they  will  be  found  to  embody  a  plan  of  operation 
calculated  to  secure  harmony  in  counsel  and  ef- 
ficiency in  action." 

The  changes  thus  proposed  were  adopted  in  the 
Society  "  by  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers present."  This  action  left  delegates,  life- 
members,  and  life-directors  on  the  following  terms: 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    HOME    MISSION    SOCIETY     75 

"Any  Baptist  church,  in  union  witli  the  denomina- 
tion, may  appoint  a  delegate  for  an  annual  contri- 
bution of  ten  dollars,  and  an  additional  delegate 
for  each  additional  thirty  dollars  " ;  thirty  dollars 
paid  at  one  time  secured  a  life-membership;  "and 
one  hundred  dollars  paid  at  one  time,  or  a  sum 
which  in  addition  to  any  previous  contribution  shall 
amount  to  one  hundred  dollars,"  a  life-directorship. 
In  1854  a  movement  toward  a  more  democratic 
administration  began  in  an  assault  on  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  life-directors.  The  Executive  Board  was 
"  instructed  "  to  propose  at  the  next  meeting  a  con- 
stitutional change  that  "  shall  allow  the  Society  to 
have  a  voice  more  directly  in  the  election  of  the 
Board  of  Managers."  The  response  to  this  instruc- 
tion occupies  considerable  space  in  the  report  of  the 
Board.  The  action  of  the  Society  having  been 
mandatory,  the  Board  had  no  option,  but  must  pre- 
sent a  plan.  This  it  did,  but  immediately  announced 
that  it  was  not  done  voluntarily  and  argued  against 
its  adoption.  The  argument  boils  down  to  this :  The 
original  idea  in  associating  the  life-directors  with 
the  officers,  chosen  by  the  Society,  in  the  election 
of  the  Board  of  Managers,  was  intended  as  a  com- 
pensation for  the  larger  contributions  made  by  them, 
and  was  the  only  prerogative  attached  to  their  liber- 
ality; doubtless  some,  or  many,  of  them  had  taken 
this  distinction  into  account  in  making  their  larger 
contributions;  the  proposal  to  deprive  them  of  it 
had  been  under  consideration  previously,  but  had 


76  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

always  been  deemed  inexpedient.  The  presentation 
of  the  Board  prevailed  with  the  Society,  and  the 
attempt  to  reduce  the  powers  of  the  life-directors 
failed.  The  next  year  the  attack  took  the  form  of 
a  proposal  that  these  directors  be  given  all  privileges 
except  voting  in  the  meetings  of  the  Board.  This 
compromise  was  carried  over  one  year,  and  in- 
definitely postponed  in  1857. 

Two  years  later  the  democratic  party  rallied  with 
a  more  radical  proposal,  no  less  than  the  total  elim- 
ination not  only  of  the  life-directorship,  but  also 
the  life-membership,  while  raising  the  cost  of  each 
church  representative,  after  the  first  two,  to  fifty 
dollars,  and  providing  for  individual  annual  mem- 
berships on  payment  of  ten  dollars.  An  amendment 
to  the  constitution  embodying  these  points  was 
adopted  by  a  majority  vote  for  consideration  a  year 
later.  It  was  then  given  to  a  committee,  who  re- 
turned it  so  modified  that  it  went  over  another  year, 
and  then  was  postponed  indefinitely  by  a  vote  of 
seventy-five  to  fifty-one.     This  was  in  1861. 

Meantime,  "  in  view  of  the  manifest  desire  for 
changes  in  our  constitution  on  the  part  of  many  in 
this  Society,"  a  committee  was  appointed  in  1859 
to  consider  and  report  the  next  year.  Out  of  this 
came,  in  i860,  with  slight  modification  in  1861,  a 
compromise  which  preserved  life-members,  life-di- 
rectors, and  church  representatives  on  the  old  terms, 
but  which  placed  the  appointment  of  the  Executive 
Board,   as   well   as   continued   the   election   of   the 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    lIOiME    MISSION    SOCIETY     yj 

officers,  in  the  Society,  thus  sweeping  away  the  pre- 
rogative of  the  Hfe-directors  hitherto  grounded  in 
their  larger  financial  contributions — the  result  at 
which  the  agitators  had  aimed  directly  seven  years 
before. 

The  adjustment  thus  reached  remained  for  twelve 
years,  when  undercurrents  came  to  the  surface 
through  the  managers.  In  1871  the  Society  directed 
the  Board  to  give  at  the  next  annual  meeting  "  a 
report  for  the  forty  years  past."  This  was  done  in 
detail,  including  names,  fields,  and  terms  of  serv- 
ice of  all  missionaries,  amounts  received  from  and 
appropriated  to  each  State,  etc.  This  report  opened 
with  a  general  view  of  the  societies  and  the  churches 
in  their  differences  and  combinations  for  missions, 
showing  how  the  society  grows  out  of  the  churches, 
operates  for  them,  and  resolves  back  into  them,  be- 
ing a  temporary  necessity  to  meet  existing  condi- 
tions. Through  this  shines  the  suggestion  of  criti- 
cisms which  come  out  more  definitely  in  these  sen- 
tences :  "  There  are  those  who  think  the  Society  is 
less  subject  and  less  serviceable  to  the  churches  on 
account  of  its  life-members  and  life-directors.  In 
their  judgment  it  is  coming  to  hold  a  position  and 
have  a  power  over  the  churches  that  are  to  be 
feared.  In  the  judgment  of  others  the  churches 
are  in  much  greater  danger  from  their  own  de- 
linquencies and  from  the  carnality  and  the  covetous- 
ness  of  many  of  their  members  than  from  the  So- 
ciety."    The  conclusion  of  this  part  of  the  report 


78  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

is  an  appeal  for  co-operation  in  home  missions, 
beginning  with  organization  in  each  church,  to  reach 
out  to  its  Association,  and  through  it  to  the  State 
Convention,  "  and  each  State  Board  should  know 
and  counsel  and  co-operate  with  the  Home  Mission 
Society,"  the  latter  giving  "  information  and  inspira- 
tion to  the  State  Conventions,  the  State  Conven- 
tions to  the  Associations  and  the  Associations  to  the 
churches."  This  line  of  communication  concludes 
thus,  "  Cautiously  and  prayerfully  do  your  Board 
call  attention  to  this,  and  .  .  .  believe  the  time  has 
come  when  you  will  judge  it  necessary  to  so  far 
change  your  constitution,  and  the  character  if  not 
the  time  of  your  anniversaries,  as  to  adjust  them 
to  the  demands  of  your  work,  present  and  prospec- 
tive. They  will  therefore,  at  the  proper  time,  recom- 
mend a  substitute  for  the  third  article  of  the  con- 
stitution." 

The  recommendation  was  "  to  the  effect  that  the 
third  article  of  the  constitution  be  so  changed  as 
to  make  the  Society  hereafter  to  consist  of  present 
life-directors,  life-members,  and  delegates,  appointed 
annually  by  the  State  Conventions  and  General  As- 
sociations; in  number,  seven  from  each  such  body, 
and  one  additional  for  every  ten  thousand  church- 
members,"  "  After  some  discussion,  this  proposed 
amendment  was  referred  back  to  the  Board,"  with 
the  request  that  it  confer  with  the  Boards  of  the 
other  societies,  and  if  possible  present  a  plan  on 
which  the  basis  of  the  delegation  for  each  society 


AMERICAN    BAPTIST    HOME   MISSION    SOCIETY     79 

shall  be  substantially  the  same."     Here  this  busi- 
ness disappears  permanently  from  the  records. 

The  silence  following  continued  for  fourteen 
years,  when,  in  1886,  it  was  broken  by  the  Board 
recommending  the  elimination  of  the  life-director- 
ship and  the  increase  of  the  cost  of  a  life-member- 
ship from  thirty  to  fifty  dollars.  These  recommenda- 
tions were  adopted  by  the  Society,  after  which  the 
third  article  of  the  constitution  stood  as  follows : 
"  The  Society  shall  be  composed  of  annual  delegates 
and  life-members.  Any  Baptist  church  in  union 
with  the  denomination  may  appoint  a  delegate  for 
an  annual  contribution  of  ten  dollars  and  an  addi- 
tional delegate  for  each  additional  thirty  dollars. 
Fifty  dollars  shall  be  requisite  to  constitute  a  mem- 
ber for  life." 


VI 

THE   SOUTHERN    BAPTIST   CONVENTION 

The  constitution  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion was  adopted  May  lo,  1845.  It  proposed  to 
provide  "  a  plan  for  eHciting,  combining,  and  direct- 
ing the  energies  of  the  whole  denomination  in  one 
sacred  effort  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,  .  . 
to  promote  foreign  and  domestic  missions,  and  other 
important  objects  connected  with  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom."  The  founders,  in  their  address  to  the 
public,  said,  "  The  constitution  we  adopt  is  precisely 
that  of  the  original  Union."  As  relates  to  constitu- 
ency, this  was  true  substantially,  and  literally  for 
the  greater  part,  in  application  to  the  prior  con- 
stitution as  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  separation. 
We  recall  that  it  had  been  changed  in  1838  from  a 
basis  in  Baptist  organizations  exclusively  to  these  in 
conjunction  with  individuals.  The  Southern  Con- 
vention started  on  the  same  basis,  "  consisting  of 
members  who  contribute  funds,  or  are  delegated 
by  religious  bodies  contributing  funds."  The  finan- 
cial terms  in  detail  duplicate  those  of  the  Triennial 
Convention  of  the  same  date  (18). 

In  the  meeting  at  which  the  Southern  Conven- 
tion was  organized  the  following  bodies  were  repre- 
sented:  Churches,  one  hundred  and  forty-seven; 
80 


THE   SOUTHERN    BAPTIST   CONVENTION  8l 

Associations,  ten;  State  Conventions,  three;  educa- 
tional institutions,  two ;  missionary  society,  one ;  and 
*'  Kentucky,"  Isaac  McCoy.  In  a  resolution  fixing 
the  date  for  the  meeting  of  1846,  "  individuals, 
churches,  and  other  bodies  "  were  named  as  mem- 
bers. No  territorial  limitations  were  recognized ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  an  ardent  call  for  help  was  ad- 
dressed "  to  all  America  and  to  all  Christendom." 
The  Convention  began  as  tri-annual.  Its  second 
meeting,  1846,  was  designated  as  "  The  First  Tri- 
ennial." The  next  one  was  in  1849,  when  its 
meetings  became  biennial,  and  so  continued  till  1867 
when  change  was  made  to  annual. 

Its  fourth  meeting  therefore,  which  was  its  first 
biennial,  was  in  185 1.  Then  appeared  an  attempt 
to  introduce  life-members  on  the  basis  of  two  hun- 
dred dollars.  This  was  recommended  by  the  Board 
of  Domestic  Missions,  on  the  plea  that  churches  and 
individuals  could  be  induced  to  contribute  more 
liberally  for  securing  a  life-membership  than  with- 
out such  encouragement.  This  recommendation  was 
referred  to  a  committee,  whose  report  was  adopted 
that  "  it  would  be  inexpedient  to  make  any  change 
at  present." 

The  next  sign  of  discontent  with  the  constitution 
was  in  1859,  when  a  foreign  missionary  moved  a 
committee  of  three  from  each  State  to  consider  and 
report  on  the  revision  of  '*  our  present  system  of 
missionary  operations."  This  was  changed  by  the 
Convention  to  one  from  each  State  "  in  connection 
r 


82  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

with  the  Board."  A  strong  committee  was  named, 
and  a  full  discussion  arose  on  its  report,  and  an 
amendment  which  was  incorporated  in  it.  The 
report,  as  adopted,  declared  any  change  not  ex- 
pedient. The  records  do  not  show  what  changes 
were  desired,  but  intimations  seem  to  look  toward 
the  questions  of  the  appointment  of  missionaries 
by  churches  and  the  relations  between  evangelizing 
and  civilizing  efforts.  However  that  may  be,  this 
item  was  followed  immediately  by  a  motion  from 
the  president  of  the  Convention,  "  R.  Fuller,"  who 
took  the  floor  for  that  purpose,  with  an  amendment 
to  the  constitution  providing  "  that  no  person  shall 
be  a  member  of  this  Convention  who  is  not  a  mem- 
ber in  good  standing  in  a  regular  Baptist  church." 
This  went  over  in  charge  of  a  committee  to  the 
next  meeting,  1861 ;  but  the  records  do  not  again 
recognize  it,  though  the  committee  in  charge  of  it 
consisted  of  President  Fuller,  still  in  that  office,  and 
two  other  leading  members,  all  of  whom  were 
present. 

In  1866  a  committee  to  suggest  changes  in  the  con- 
stitution, apparently  without  restrictions,  reported 
only  the  change  from  "  Confederate  States "  to 
"  United  States."  Likewise,  when  the  next  year  the 
meetings  became  annual  and  the  constitution  was  re- 
vised in  adaptation  to  the  change,  nothing  more 
was  done  except  to  adjust  the  terminology  of 
payments.  But  in  1869  the  proposal  of  ten  years 
earlier  again   appeared,   restricting  membership  to 


THE    SOUTIIERX    BAPTIST    CONVENTION"  83 

members  of  Baptist  churches,  with  which  was 
joined  the  new  measure  to  admit  a  delegate  from 
each  Baptist  church  contributing  any  sum  to  the 
Convention,  "  and  for  each  one  hundred  dollars  an 
additional  delegate."  Both  of  these  measures  failed 
of  adoption.  In  1871  still  another  committee  on  con- 
stitution was  sent  out,  but  the  only  recommendation 
it  brought  was  that  the  committee  be  discharged, 
which  was  approved,  apparently  with  cordiality  and 
promptness.  This  seems  to  show  that  the  senti- 
ment friendly  to  a  more  denominational  member- 
ship and  church  recognition  had  diminished  or  be- 
come discouraged. 

In  1874  an  issue  arose  on  the  personnel  of  dele- 
gations within  constitutional  limits.  It  appears  to 
have  resulted  from  dissatisfaction  with  an  action 
of  the  credentials  committee,  and  developed  in  this 
way :  The  Committee  on  Credentials,  in  connection 
with  its  report  of  the  enrolment,  presented  "  the 
following  resolution  for  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
vention, Resolved,  That,  in  the  sense  of  this  com- 
mittee, the  Convention  has  no  right  to  dictate  to  the 
States  or  their  instructed  delegates  as  to  who  shall 
represent  them  in  this  body,  provided  the  applicant 
be  within  the  requirements  of  the  constitution." 
Immediately  "  Bro.  S.  H.  Ford  "  responded  with 
this:  ''Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  body 
that  no  delegation  is  entitled  to  represent  its  con- 
stituency by  any  person  not  appointed  by  that  con- 
stituency, or  from  its  territorial  limits."     This  was 


84  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

laid  on  the  table,  but  the  next  day,  on  motion  of  its 
author,  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Creden- 
tials. Later  than  this  action,  the  report  of  this 
committee  was  adopted  as  originally  offered — .that 
is,  without  Brother  Ford's  resolution. 

In  1876  a  committee  of  one  from  each  State  con- 
sidered "  what  changes,  if  any,  in  our  constitution 
or  policy  are  needful  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the 
Convention  and  bring  it  in  closer  sympathy  with 
the  denomination."  It  proposed  a  new  article, 
which  may  tlirow  light  backward  on  the  issue  of 
two  years  earlier,  as  follows :  "'In  voting  upon  any 
matter  before  the  Convention,  the  delegates  of  each 
State  shall  be  authorized  to  cast  the  entire  vote  to 
which  their  States  are  respectively  entitled,  when- 
ever three  delegates  from  diffenent  States  shall 
unite  in  a  call  for  such  vote."  Another  recom- 
mendation would  change  the  power  to  amend  the 
constitution  from  two-thirds  without  previous  no- 
tice to  a  majority  on  one  year's  notice.  The  re- 
port was  laid  over  for  a  year  and  then  rejected. 

But  a  year  later  a  quite  voluminous  change  in 
the  third  article  was  made,  striking  out  the  pro- 
vision for  representation  of  the  "  great  collateral 
societies  "  on  the  basis  of  one  thousand  dollars  each, 
and  inserting  in  its  place  the  titles  of  twenty-one 
organizations  that  for  every  five  hundred  dollars 
were  authorized  to  send  one  delegate.  Those  so 
designated  were  the  State  bodies  co-operating  with 
the  Southern  Convention  and  certain  co-operative 


THE   SOUTHERN    BAPTIST   CONVENTION  85 

organizations  covering  less  than  a  State  or  parts 
of  two  States.  The  hmitation  of  the  number  of 
delegates  for  each  of  these,  on  the  five-hundred- 
dollar  basis,  was  to  funds  expended  by  it  "  for 
objects  similar  to  those  in  the  prosecution  of  which 
this  Convention  may  be  actively  engaged  " — that  is, 
foreign  missions,  home  missions,  Indian  missions, 
and  Sunday-school  work,  the  delegates  to  be  for- 
mally appointed  and  certified  by  the  bodies  repre- 
sented by  them. 

For  the  next  seven  years  nothing  occurred  need- 
ing our  attention ;  but  in  1885,  one  word  in  the 
third  article  was  changed.  The  question  of  the  eli- 
gibility of  women  to  seats  in  the  Convention  having 
been  raised,  a  committee  of  one  from  each  State 
was  given  the  problem,  and  it  proposed  to  substi- 
tute "  brethren  "  for  "  members,"  which  was  done. 
Therefore  a  missionary  meeting  of  women  took  ac- 
tion, which  was  transmitted  to  the  Convention, 
affirming  that  they  did  not  desire  independent  or- 
ganization, but  wished  to  be  represented  in  the 
Convention  through  their  "  respective  State  Con- 
ventions, as  heretofore."  The  next  year  the  sisters, 
as  a  working  constituency,  received  cordial  appre- 
ciation and  approval. 

Three  years  later,  1888,  several  changes  came  in 
a  group,  on  the  report  of  a  committee  appointed  the 
preceding  year,  (i)  The  list  of  twenty-one  names 
of  co-operating  bodies,  adopted  ten  years  earlier, 
was  erased,  and  in  its  place  appeared  the  phrase, 


86  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

"  any  State  Convention  or  General  Association,"  on 
a  basis  of  five  hundred  dollars  annually  contributed. 
(2)  The  financial  condition  of  membership  for  in- 
dividuals or  Baptist  bodies  was  increased  from  one 
hundred  dollars  to  two  hundred  and  fifty.  (3) 
"  District  Associations  which  co-operate  with  this 
Convention  "  were  admitted  without  financial  speci- 
fication. 

Under  this  arrangement  the  Convention  was  soon 
embarrassed  by  too  large  an  attendance,  and  for 
this  reason,  in  1891,  a  call  appeared  for  a  reduction 
of  members  by  eliminating  the  representatives  of 
Associations.  An  amendment  to  the  resolution  em- 
bodying this  call  was  proposed  which  would  change 
the  whole  membership  from  the  financial  to  the 
numerical  basis.  The  motion  was  laid  on  the  table, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-one  votes  to  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two;  but  the  next  year  a  motion  pre- 
vailed for  a  committee  to  consider  the  reduction 
of  attendance  and  report  a  year  later.  It  so  re- 
ported, 1893,  recommending  either  of  two  plans 
suggested.  The  first  was  wholly  numerical,  ten 
from  each  co-operating  State,  five  from  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  one  from  each  co-operating  Asso- 
ciation, and  one  for  "  each  four  thousand  white 
Baptist  membership,"  or  major  fraction  thereof, 
"  within  these  States  and  the  District  of  Columbia." 
The  second  plan  was  the  same  as  the  first  in  the 
first  two  items,  as  above,  but  with  a  basis  of  fifteen 
thousand  in  the  third,  while  a  fourth  was  added, 


THE   SOUTHERN    BAPTIST   CONVENTION  87 

"  one  representative  for  every  five  hundred  dollars 
actually  paid  into  the  treasuries  of  the  Boards " 
(hiring  the  year.  Action  was  deferred,  and  the  re- 
})ort  printed  in  the  minutes.  In  1894  the  same  com- 
mittee tried  again.  This  time  it  brought  two  re- 
ports: one  from  the  majority,  six  members,  and 
the  other  from  the  minority,  five  members.  The 
two  agreed  in  expunging  from  the  constitution  the 
provision  for  the  representation  on  the  basis  of  five 
hundred  dollars,  which  was  adopted.  Beyond  that 
the  majority  report  called  for  a  wholly  numerical 
basis,  while  the  minority  adhered  to  the  financial, 
and  increased  the  cost  of  membership  from  two  hun- 
dred dollars  to  three  hundred  dollars.  The  whole 
report  in  the  points  of  difference  was  laid  on  the 
table,  four  hundred  and  forty-two  to  one  hundred 
and  forty-two.  But,  as  the  last  action  of  this  ses- 
sion, this  report  was  taken  from  the  table  and 
ordered  referred  for  further  consideration  to  a  com- 
mittee, and  the  Chair  appointed  the  same  inhar- 
monious committee,  w^hich  reported  the  following 
year,  this:  "After  full  and  thorough  consideration, 
your  committee  has  found  itself  unable  to  come  to 
any  unanimous  agreement  as  to  a  change  in  the 
basis  of  representation,  and  therefore  recommends 
tiiat,  for  the  present,  the  basis  shall  remain  as  it  is 
now,  and  request  that  the  committee  be  discharged." 
The  protracted  effort  to  shift  the  Convention  from 
the  financial  to  the  numerical  basis  reached  its  most 
strenuous  stage  at  that  time.     The  conclusion  then 


88  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

adopted  continues  unchanged.  The  minority  has 
either  accepted  the  situation  and  continued  co-opera- 
tion under  the  aegis  of  the  clause  in  the  above  re- 
port ''  for  the  present,"  or  has  agitated  outside,  with 
but  little  exception.  The  most  impressive  attempt, 
though  not  the  only  one,  to  bring  this  issue  to  the 
front  in  the  Convention,  was  perhaps  that  made 
by  the  Florida  Baptist  Convention  in  1906.  The  re- 
sponse made  to  it,  on  the  recommendation  of  a 
strong  committee  and  without  discussion,  was  as 
follows :  "  Your  committee  appointed  to  consider  the 
overture  from  the  Florida  Baptist  Convention  to 
eliminate  the  financial  basis  of  representation  from 
our  constitution  begs  leave  to  report  that  while  re- 
specting fully  the  convictions  of  the  brethren  send- 
ing said  overture,  and  with  all  courtesy  and  regard 
for  their  motives  in  the  matter,  we  deem  it  entirely 
inexpedient  to  raise  this  issue  again  in  our  Conven- 
tion. It  has  frequently  been  presented  in  one  form 
or  another  in  past  years,  and  has  always  resulted  in 
no  action  at  all  or  in  an  action  unfavorable  to 
eliminating  our  financial  basis  of  representation.  .  . 
Believing,  therefore,  that  this  Convention  regards 
its  present  basis  of  representation  as  scriptural  in 
principle,  and  abundantly  justified  by  experience, 
we  recommend  that  no  action  be  taken  looking  to 
a  reopening  of  the  question." 


VII 

THE    NORTIIERN"    BAPTIST    CONVENTION 

Having  considered  the  three  Northern  Societies 
separately  and  the  Southern  Convention  on  the  same 
plan,  we  now  look  along  the  lines  tiiat  led  to  the 
Northern  Convention.  This  will  partly  carry  us 
over  the  same  period  and  in  the  same  company, 
but  with  a  purpose  and  prospect  which  so  far  we 
have  purposely  neglected  in  anticipation  of  what 
now  follows.  The  Southern  Convention  started 
as  a  unit  distributing  its  work  among  its  Boards. 
The  three  Societies  in  the  North  were  independent 
units,  and  the  processes  through  which  they  came, 
1910,  into  combination  in  the  Northern  Baptist 
Convention  are  now  to  be  observed.  The  culmina- 
ting stage  in  the  processes,  during  a  few  years  past, 
are  quite  familiar  to  many,  and  taken  by  them- 
selves might  possibly  be  regarded  as  not  requiring 
any  consideration  in  this  connection.  But  those 
discussions  and  adjustments  occupying  the  first 
decade  of  the  present  century  are  not  independent 
of  the  past ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  involved  in 
and  evolved  from  those  discussions  and  adjust- 
ments in  the  three  Societies  separately,  at  which 
we  have  glanced  in  preceding  pages. 

Going  back   sixtv  years   and   standing   with   the 

89 


90  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

Northern  Baptists  at  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  we  see  that  the  Societies  carried  in  them- 
selves naturally  a  struggle  between  the  centrifugal 
and  the  centripetal  forces.  Each  society  had  a  foot- 
ing and  a  force  calling  inevitably  for  continuance 
in  isolated  action,  but  it  was  equally  inevitable  that 
the  spirit  common  to  them  all,  supported  by  con- 
tributory forces,  must  sooner  or  later  express  itself 
in  a  call  to  closer  association.  How  the  pull  be- 
tween these  two  would  balance,  and  when  and  to 
what  practical  results  it  would  lead,  must  depend 
in  part  on  the  differences,  the  frictions,  and  the 
fraternity  between  them.  The  Missionary  Union 
at  first  was  the  main  obstruction  organically  to  the 
centripetal  current.  The  others  were  more  demo- 
cratic, and  most  conditions  were  favorable  to  the 
maintenance  and  increase  of  their  democracy.  We 
have  seen  how  the  contest  between  democracy  and 
autocracy  moved  in  the  Missionary  Union,  the 
former  slowly  overcoming  the  latter,  and  how,  with 
an  easier  way  and  less  disturbance,  the  others  moved 
in  the  same  direction.  It  was  only  when  all  of  them 
had  reached  substantially  the  same  position  in  rela- 
tion to  the  churches  as  paramount  in  missions  and 
the  supremacy  of  the  people  through  the  churches, 
that  they  found  easy  going  toward  organic  uni- 
formity as  forerunner  of  closer  connections.  Mean- 
time the  element  of  friction  in  administration  came 
more  to  the  front  as  a  protest  and  a  warning.  These 
two  fell  in  with  the  fundamental  fraternity.     They 


THE    NORTHERN    BAPTIST    CONVENTION  9I 

were  commanded  by  it  and  commanded  it  simulta- 
neously. The  supporters  of  the  three  Societies  were 
mainly  the  same  people,  which  tended  all  the  way 
to  level  up  the  whole  road  and  get  all  concerned 
into  readiness  for  advance  harmoniously.  The 
Northern  Baptist  Convention  did  not  happen.  It 
came  when  and  as  it  did  because  the  three  Societies 
had  come  when  and  as  they  had. 

Turning  now  from  the  general  to  the  particular, 
let  us  first  find  the  situation  relative  to  co-operation 
as  it  existed  from  six  to  ten  years  after  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Missionary  Union.  In  1853  the  Pub- 
lication Society  met  in  Philadelphia,  May  4;  the 
Home  Mission  Society,  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  May  13;  the 
Missionary  Union,  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  May  19.  In 
1854  the  first  of  these  met  in  Philadelphia,  Fifth 
Church,  May  1 1 ;  the  second  in  Philadelphia,  Spruce 
Street  Church,  same  date ;  the  third  in  the  same 
place  as  the  second,  but  a  week  after  its  adjourn- 
ment. In  1855  the  Home  Mission  Society  convened 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  May  9;  the  Publication  So- 
ciety in  Chicago,  May  11;  and  the  Missionary 
Union,  in  the  same  building,  May  15.  In  1856  the 
Home  Mission  Society  assembled  May  9;  the  Pub- 
lication Society,  May  12;  the  Missionary  Union, 
May  15 — all  in  the  same  place,  Oliver  Street,  New 
York.  This  seems  to  be  the  first  time  that  the  three 
so  appointed  their  annual  meetings,  in  time  and 
place,  that  the  same  persons  could  conveniently  at- 
tend all  of  them.     In  1857  the  Publication  Society 


92  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

led  off  with  a  meeting  of  one  day,  May  12,  in 
Boston;  the  Home  Mission  Society  followed  on  the 
next  day,  closing  on  the  fourteenth ;  and  the  Mis- 
sionary Union  began  on  the  twenty-first;  all  in  the 
same  city,  but  in  three  different  places.  Now,  in 
these  years,  while  indication  appears  in  the  dates 
and  places  of  meeting  of  an  increasing  disposition  to 
make  it  easy  for  the  members  of  one  to  attend  the 
meetings  of  another,  still  no  sign  is  discoverable  in 
the  records  of  any  one  of  them  that  it  knew  of 
the  existence  of  the  others,  except  as  the  general 
and  customary  invitation  to  visiting  brethren  may  be 
so  construed. 

The  first  break  in  this  silence  of  the  records  comes 
in  the  last  of  the  years  just  specified,  when  the 
Home  Mission  Society  recommended  "  to  the  Execu- 
tive Board  the  inquiry,  Whether  the  anniversary 
business  of  this  Society  may  not  profitably  be  com- 
pressed into  one  day,  with  the  hope  that  the  other 
Societies  will  so  compress  their  business  as  to  ac- 
complish the  anniversaries  of  all  the  Societies  in 
one  week."  This  cautious  recommendation  seems  to 
involve  the  hope  that  the  future  will  find  the  So- 
cieties meeting  in  the  same  place  and  on  contiguous 
dates.  But  the  records  are  empty  of  even  a  recom- 
mendation, possibly  we  would  be  justified  in  saying 
a  suggestion,  that  any  two  of  them  might  with  pro- 
priety confer  on  this  subject. 

But  the  next  year,  1858,  brought  into  view  the 
first  recognition  by  the   Societies  of  the  agitation 


THE   NORTHERN    BAPTIST    CONVENTION  93 

that  had  been  gathering  volume  during  these  years 
for  closer  touch  between  them.  They  all  met  in 
Philadelphia  in  three  separate  places,  but  on  such 
dates  as  rendered  their  meetings  continuous.  The 
Home  Mission  Society  came  first.  The  report  of 
its  Board  contained  no  reference  to  the  recommen- 
dation made  to  it  at  the  preceding  meeting  of  the 
Society  concerning  a  reduction  in  time  to  bring  all 
the  meetings  into  one  week.  But  its  first  action, 
after  the  report  of  the  credentials  committee,  was 
the  authorization  of  a  committee  "  to  confer  with 
a  committee  of  like  number  from  the  Missionary 
Union  and  the  Publication  Society,  with  a  view 
of  harmonizing  the  efforts  and  operations  of  these 
several  Societies,  and  of  devising  plans  and  meas- 
ures by  which  the  operations  of  said  Societies  may 
be  rendered  more  effective,  and  their  business  at- 
tended with  less  expense;  and  that  said  committee 
report  to  this  Society  at  its  next  annual  meeting." 
Under  the  caption  "  consolidation  "  the  report 
of  the  Board  of  the  Publication  Society,  the  next 
to  meet,  said,  "  Much  has  been  said  of  late  years 
on  the  consolidation  of  the  Societies.  Your  Board, 
having  no  personal  object  to  attain,  and  no  desire 
but  to  serve  the  churches  in  the  best  possible  man- 
ner in  the  great  work  of  extending  Christ's  king- 
dom, would  respectfully  recommend  the  Society  to 
appoint  a  committee,  who  in  connection  with  com- 
mittees from  the  other  Societies,  should  any  be  ap- 
pointed, shall  earnestly  and  thoroughly  canvass  the 


94  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

desirableness,  practicability,  extent,  and  mode  of 
consolidation.  This  committee  to  report  at  its  next 
annual  meeting."  The  response  of  the  Society  to 
this  recommendation  was  a  duplication  of  the  action 
of  the  Home  Mission  Society  previously  taken,  not 
using  the  word  "  consolidation." 

The  Missionary  Union  came  last,  and  its  records 
show  two  additional  sources  of  the  current  actions 
in  the  Societies.  First,  in  the  meeting  of  its  Board, 
preceding  that  of  the  Society,  "  a  paper  from  a 
meeting  of  ministers  in  Boston  on  the  consolidation 
of  our  denominational  societies,"  was  presented  and 
referred  to  a  committee.  Secondly,  the  committee 
opened  its  report  with  the  recognition  of  a  recent 
action  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
followed  by  the  Home  Mission  and  Publication 
Societies,  and  on  this  basis  recommended  action, 
"  under  the  precise  resolution  adopted  by  the  above- 
named  Societies,"  which  was  carried  into  effect. 

The  joint  Committee  of  Fifteen,  five  from  each 
Society,  to  which  the  problem  of  adjustment  or  con- 
solidation had  thus  been  referred,  held  four  meet- 
ings, but  met  with  serious  misfortune  in  the  illness 
of  its  chairman,  resulting  in  his  death.  The  delay 
thus  caused  deferred  its  last  meeting  to  so  late  a 
date  that  it  deemed  itself  unable  properly  to  accom- 
plish the  purpose  for  which  it  had  been  named,  and, 
therefore,  after  providing  for  a  statement  to  this 
effect  to  be  made  to  each  Society,  it  adjourned  with- 
out day. 


THE    NORTHERN'    BAPTIST    CONVENTION  95 

The  reports  above  provided  for  were  duly  made 
in  1859,  Along  with  them  came  a  communication 
from  a  large  representative  Convention  that  had 
been  held  in  New  York,  where  the  Societies  met, 
a  few  days  prior  to  their  meeting.  Some  reference 
to  the  communication  from  this  Convention  is  made 
in  our  treatment  of  the  Missionary  Union.  It  ap- 
propriately has  more  extended  consideration  at  this 
point.  That  over  eight  hundred  delegates,  from 
nearly  five  hundred  churches  and  other  correspond- 
ing bodies,  assembled  in  anticipation  of  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  Societies  to  consider  the  problems 
committed  to  the  Committee  of  Fifteen,  was  a  fact 
of  distinct  significance,  and  that  its  members  repre- 
sented widely  distributed  regions  added  to  the  sig- 
nificance. Its  communication  opens  with  the  dis- 
avowal of  any  assumption  of  "  power  to  legislate," 
but  with  the  hope  that  suggestions  may  be  made  in- 
ducing "  our  people  to  enter  with  united  and  en- 
during zeal  "  on  the  missionary  work  before  them. 
It  resolved  that  "  the  number  of  our  general  organ- 
izations should  be  no  larger  than  is  necessary  "  to 
efficiency;  that  the  two  Baptist  Bible  Societies  should 
be  united  under  one  management ;  that  "  the  work 
of  foreign  evangelization  should  be,  so  far  as  prac- 
ticable, committed  to  the  care  of  one  organization  "; 
that  the  constitution  of  each  of  the  evangelizing  or- 
ganizations should  be  so  modified  as  to  bring  the 
work  and  the  contributions  into  the  closest  prac- 
ticable  connection ;   that   "  an   elective   membership 


96  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

or  annual  delegations  should  be  substituted  for  life- 
membership  in  all  our  general  organizations  " ;  that 
the  church  should  be  induced  "  to  adopt  systematic 
and  thorough  measures  of  collection,"  looking  to- 
ward the  total  abolition  of  collecting  agencies.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  laying  this  judicious  and  pro- 
gressive communication  before  the  three  Societies, 
as  well  as  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
and  the  American  Baptist  Free  Mission  Society. 
This  was  done.  Each  of  the  three  Societies  whose 
course  we  are  tracing  received  it,  and  referred  it 
respectfully;  but  none  of  them  recorded  any  further 
recognition  of  it,  nor  did  any  of  them  renew  its 
committee  on  this  subject  or  in  any  other  way  give 
it  any  attention  subsequently  (19).  In  fact,  nothing 
additional  of  this  nature  that  need  detain  us  ap- 
peared until  the  opening  of  the  movement  culmina- 
ting in  the  Northern  Convention. 

After  the  war  a  great  practical  call  in  the  South 
and  West  seized  the  attention  of  the  Home  Mission 
and  Publication  Societies.  This  provided  both  rea- 
son and  excuse  for  disregarding  constitutional  prob- 
lems when  so  many  of  them  had  been  so  far  ad- 
justed. The  efforts  to  satisfy  the  desire  for  the 
union  of  the  Bible  Societies,  though  sincerely  prose- 
cuted by  them,  failed,  and  finally,  in  1883,  the  solu- 
tion was  found  in  a  special  convention  composed 
chiefly  of  representatives  of  the  State  Conventions. 
The  problem  of  the  two  foreign  mission  organiza- 
tions, which  had  grown  out  of  slavery,  worked  it- 


THE    NORTHERN    BAPTIST    CONVENTION  97 

self  into  a  solution.  "  The  abolition  of  slavery 
rendered  the  continuance  of  the  Free  Mission  So- 
ciety unnecessary,  except  to  take  care  of  legacies," 
and  its  field  in  Japan  was  taken  over  by  the  Mis- 
sionary Union. 

But  during  these  years  the  two  sentiments,  which 
were  necessarily  interlinked,  continued  and  in- 
creased— the  sentiment  for  closer  association  of  all 
Baptists  in  missions  and  that  for  closer  connection 
between  the  people  generally,  and  the  churches  spe- 
cifically, with  the  control  of  mission  administra- 
tion. (The  justification  of  what  has  already  been 
written  about  the  unification  tendencies  is  largely  in 
the  fact  that  unification  cannot  go  very  far  without 
dealing  with  the  basis  of  membership.  The  Con- 
vention of  1858  joined  the  two,  calling  for  con- 
solidation and  the  representative  basis ;  and  when 
the  time  came  to  get  the  Northern  Convention  go- 
ing it  was  necessary  to  secure  a  uniform  basis  of 
membership  in  the  Societies.  But  before  that  the 
progress  in  both  of  these  elements  had  been  con- 
siderable, and  the  dual  sentiment  had  not  only  been 
maintained,  but  accelerated.) 

In  1871  the  Home  Mission  Society  appointed  a 
committee  "  to  confer  with  similar  committees  from 
the  other  Societies,  and  to  arrange  for  future  anni- 
versaries." Similar  action  was  taken  by  the  Pub- 
lication Society.  The  Missionary  Union  was  con- 
tent with  a  general  resolution  that  it  "  seems  de- 
sirable "  to  hold  the  anniversaries  at  the  same  time 
G 


98  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

and  place.  Nothing  more  appears  of  this  or  related 
to  it,  unless  it  was  in  the  Home  Mission  Society  the 
next  year.  Then  a  proposal  from  the  Board  for  a 
revision  of  the  basis  of  membership  was  referred 
back  "  with  the  request  that  they  confer  with  the 
Boards  of  the  other  Societies,  and  if  possible  pre- 
sent a  plan  on  which  the  basis  of  delegation  for  each 
Society  shall  be  substantially  the  same."  The  suc- 
ceeding silence  shows  that  this  reach  forward  was 
premature. 

But  in  years  soon  following  the  Societies  or  their 
Boards  attained  to  some  temporary  co-operations, 
the  Bible  Convention  furnished  a  sample  of  what 
might  be  done  when  there  was  a  push  for  it,  the 
women's  societies  arose,  and  conferences  and  com- 
binations between  them  and  the  general  Societies 
in  the  same  kinds  of  work  came  on,  the  Young 
People's  Movement  got  under  way,  involving  the 
consideration  and  action  of  the  Societies,  the  com- 
missions on  Stewardship  promoted  combination;  all 
these  and  similar  influences  combined  to  lead  the 
Baptist  mind  generally  toward  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  into  an  attitude  that,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  made  a  broader  and  more  permanent 
output  inevitable. 

The  effective  call  to  this  end,  the  answer  to  which 
began  at  once  and  continued,  marked  the  close  of 
the  century,  being  the  opening  address  of  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Home  Mission  Society  in  1900.  This 
Society  was  the  first  to  meet,  and  this  address  pro- 


THE    NORTHERN    BAPTIST   CONVENTIOxV  QQ 

posed  three  things  "  for  such  highways  of  com- 
munication as  shall  make  practically  impossible  a 
conflict  of  plans."  They  were:  "First,  a  better 
understanding  of  method  and  more  uniform  plan  in 
securing  offerings  for  the  various  treasuries." 
"  Secondly,  a  better  understanding  concerning  the 
relative  amounts  required  for  the  various  depart- 
ments of  work."  "  Thirdly,  a  better  understanding 
as  to  the  relations  of  the  Societies  in  the  execution 
of  their  work."  Responding  to  this  call,  the  Society 
requested  the  "  sister  Societies  "  to  join  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  commission  to  consider  these  and 
kindred  recommendations,  reporting  the  next  year. 
They  did  so;  the  Publication  Society  using  the 
words  "  apportionment  "  and  "  unification,"  and  the 
Missionary  Union,  the  phrase,  "  closer  co-operation 
in  all  our  work." 

Discussing  many  things,  accepting  some  and  re- 
jecting others,  this  joint  commission,  as  the  central 
thing  recommended  that  the  Societies  adopt  a  uni- 
form basis  of  membership,  to  be  agreed  on  by  their 
Boards  and  brought  before  them  in  1902,  which  was 
adopted  and  done  (20).  The  result  in  1902  was 
that  the  Home  Mission  Society  and  the  Publica- 
tion Society  secured  the  same  terms  of  membership, 
with  which  those  of  the  Missionary  Union  agreed 
except  in  two  particulars,  namely,  it  made  all  its 
missionaries  members  of  the  Society  while  in  serv- 
ice, and  it  provided  that  any  individual  Baptist  or 
local  Association  supporting  a  missionary  or  mis- 


lOO  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

sionaries,  might  name  a  member  for  every  fifty 
dollars  contributed.  The  terms  of  membership  in 
which  the  three  agreed  were  these:  All  life-members 
previously  constituted ;  any  Baptist  church  contribu- 
ting any  amount  was  entitled  to  one  representative, 
and  one  additional  for  every  fifty  dollars  con- 
tributed, up  to  ten  members;  any  individual  might 
become  an  annual  member  for  ten  dollars,  and  an 
honorary  life-member  for  fifty  dollars,  with  a  vote 
so  long  as  he  continued  an  annual  contributor;  and 
every  vote  was  conditioned  on  membership  in  a 
Baptist  church.  This  amounted  potentially  to  a  con- 
solidation of  the  Societies.  It  was  now  within  the 
power  of  the  attendants  to  carry  any  measure 
through  the  three  Societies  and  elect  the  same  per- 
sons to  the  same  offices  in  all  of  them. 

In  this  year,  1902,  also  appeared  a  movement,  in 
response  to  a  recognized  popular  desire,  to  bring 
about  a  more  perfect  co-ordination  or  co-operation, 
if  not  consolidation,  of  the  Societies,  This  coming 
before  these  bodies  led  to  a  joint  committee  named 
by  them  to  consider  the  whole  field  and  report  a 
year  later.  This  report,  made  as  designed,  op- 
posed the  consolidation  of  the  Societies  or  their 
missionary  magazines,  or  the  inauguration  of  an 
additional  magazine  issued  jointly  by  them,  or  the 
incorporation  of  the  women's  organizations  in  the 
general  bodies ;  but  it  recommended  closer  affiliation 
between  all  of  them  practically  and  the  establish- 
ing of  a  reference  committee  of  nine  as  mandatory 


THE    NORTH  ER.V    BAPTIST    CONVENTION  lOl 

arbitrator,  which,  however,  was  never  practically 
recognized.  This  report  was  adopted  by  a  joint 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  three  Societies  in 
1903,  which  action  was  secured  under  strong  pres- 
sure for  harmony  and  rest  from  this  kind  of  dis- 
cussion. That  it  was  not  universally  satisfactory 
is   evident    from   events    soon    following. 

In  1907  a  conference  met  in  connection  with  the 
annual  meetings  of  the  Societies.  It  had  been  called 
by  a  committee  consisting  of  one  executive  officer  of 
each  of  the  three  Societies,  "  acting  upon  the  re- 
quest of  those  interested  in  the  subject,  and  with  the 
approval  of  their  respective  Boards,  and  represent- 
ing their  joint  committee  on  the  anniversaries." 
This  conference  precipitated  the  tentative  organ- 
ization of  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  which 
organization  was  made  permanent  the  following 
year,  and  entered  on  a  course  of  adjustment  to  the 
Societies,  which  reached  its  culmination  in  19 10. 
The  decision  then  was  that  organic  consolidation 
was  impracticable  for  legal  reasons ;  but,  instead,  the 
Societies  adopted  such  recommendations  of  the 
Northern  Convention  as  rendered  them  in  effect 
its  Boards  of  Administration.  The  Baptists  of  the 
Northern  States  with  great  unanimity  hailed  this 
consummation  as  eminently  acceptable  and  opening 
a  prospect  of  enlarged  prosperity  for  this  portion  of 
the  denomination  in  its  missionary  work.  Two 
chief  purposes  were  avowed,  more  or  less,  through- 
out these  processes ;  first,  to  secure  a  representa- 


102  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

tive  body  authorized  appreciably  to  express  the 
mind  of  the  Baptists  of  the  North  on  all  topics 
deemed  appropriate ;  and,  secondly,  to  impart  unity 
and  efficiency  to  their  evangelizing  and  missionary 
enterprises.  In  this  last  element  the  Northern  Con- 
vention comes  within  the  scope  of  the  present  writ- 
ing, and,  in  this  aspect  of  it,  nothing  remains  but 
to  record  the  conclusions  to  which  it  came  touching 
the  constituency  of  the  missionary  combination 
finally  resulting. 

Consequent  on  the  concessions  in  constituency 
made  by  the  Societies  to  the  proposals  of  the  Con- 
vention, nearly  all  of  which  were  accepted,  they 
came  to  a  uniform  basis  of  membership,  as  fol- 
lows: All  life-members  and  honorary  life-members 
are  continued  as  such ;  annual  members  may  be 
appointed  by  Baptist  churches,  one  from  each  church 
and  one  additional  for  every  hundred  members,  but 
not  more  than  ten  from  any  one  church ;  all  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Society  during  service;  "all  ac- 
credited delegates  to  each  annual  meeting  of  the 
Northern  Baptist  Convention."  The  accredited 
delegates  to  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  are 
in  these  classes :  One  from  each  Baptist  church,  and 
one  additional  for  every  hundred  members ;  ten 
from  any  Baptist  State  Convention,  and  one  addi- 
tional for  every  ten  district  Associations  in  it  above 
the  first  ten ;  accredited  officers  and  members  of 
Boards  of  Managers  of  co-operating  organizations, 
including  the  women's  societies  in  co-operation  with 


THE   NORTHERN    BAPTIST   CONVENTION  IO3 

the  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  and  the  Baptist 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  formerly  the  ]\Iission- 
ary  Union.  (Previously  Associations  had  had  gen- 
erous recognition,  now  abolished.  State  Conventions 
had  been  admitted  less  fully,  and  with  them  all 
"  denominationally  recognized  missionary,  educa- 
tional, and  philanthropic  organizations."') 

The  reader  now  has  before  him  all  the  facts,  in 
substantial  completeness,  since  1814,  with  a  sum- 
mary of  the  substance  of  earlier  developments, 
showing  the  processes  through  which  the  Baptists 
of  the  United  States  until  1845,  ^^^^  those  of  the 
North  and  South  since  then,  have  almost  totally 
transformed  the  whole  basis  of  membership  in  their 
missionary  organizations.  They  began  with  indi- 
vidual, non-denominational  members,  conditioned 
only  on  money.  They  end  with  delegates  from  Bap- 
tist churches,  or  bodies  based  on  churches,  slightly 
but  not  effectively  modified,  in  the  North ;  and,  in 
the  South,  with  "  brethren "  who  contribute  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  annually,  or  are  delegated 
by  Baptist  bodies  so  contributing,  and  one  repre- 
sentative from  each  district  Association  co-operating 
without  specified  financial  condition. 


VIII 

DOCTRINAL 

The  present  purpose  is  to  discuss  briefly  a  few  of 
the  main  issues  that  have  caused  the  controversies 
concerning  constituency  in  the  organizations  whose 
courses  we  have  been  reviewing.  This  discussion 
seeks  only  to  get  as  good  a  footing  as  may  be  for 
a  hopeful  outlook  into  a  Baptist  future  of  homo- 
geneity in  the  elements  involved.  This  is  to  be 
done  in  the  light  of  the  past  and  for  the  use  of  the 
present  and  the  future.  American  Baptists  have 
expended  relatively  much  time,  talent,  and  temper 
on  these  problems,  so  much  that  one  may  be  excused 
for  thinking  that  they  have  wasted  some.  Faith 
in  their  growing  wisdom  and  widening  vision 
encourages  the  hope  that  their  future  will  be  wiser 
than  their  past  has  been  in  the  realm  of  co-opera- 
tion ;  and  that,  through  the  blending  of  their  con- 
structive genius  and  irenic  spirit,  they  may  attain 
at  the  same  time  a  more  effective  combination  and 
a  no  less  perfect  liberty.  Toward  this  result  the 
following  considerations  are  submitted. 

DEMOCRACY  AND  AUTOCRACY 

The  broad  general  issue,  undergirding  all  others, 
is  between  the  people  and  the  managers.  The  peo- 
104 


DOCTRINAL  I05 

pie  cannot  control  directly  and  firsthand  in  general 
enterprises.  This  raises  three  questions :  Shall  the 
people  control  at  all?  Shall  they  control  wholly 
or  partly?  On  what  plan  can  they  best  control? 
The  term  "  the  people  "  is  now  used  indefinitely. 
It  may  be  defined  on  an  individual  or  an  organiza- 
tion basis,  a  financial,  denominational,  or  Christian 
basis,  for  instance;  but  the  present  inquiry  reaches 
beneath  all  such  distinctions  dealing  with  the  peo- 
ple combined  on  any  basis.  Shall  the  people  control, 
shall  the  groundwork  of  co-operation  be  democratic 
in  whole  or  in  part  ? 

It  will  probably  be  granted  that  Baptists  can  give 
consistently  only  one  answer  to  these  questions.  In- 
dividualism is  the  root  idea  of  the  denomination  in 
combinations.  When  combination  comes  individ- 
ualism does  not  repudiate  itself,  but  it  does  regulate 
itself,  and  its  only  consistent  regulation  of  itself 
among  Baptists  is  in  harmony  with  itself;  that  is, 
on  a  basis  of  democracy  in  the  local  combination. 
And  when  the  local  combinations  reach  into  wider 
ones  they  do  not  deny  their  democracy,  but  they 
do  adjust  it.  That  is.  however  far  Baptists  may 
extend  their  co-operative  organizations  and  opera- 
tions, all  authority  should  be  resolvable  back  into 
the  people.  They  may  let  out  the  lines  of  their 
control  variously,  but  they  must  never  let  go  the 
lines  entirely.  To  do  that  is  to  trifle  with  their 
own  responsibility  to  God. 

Theoretically  the  position   here  aftirmed  has  al- 


I06  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

ways  been  recognized,  perhaps  among  us,  but  some- 
times the  lines  have  been  so  far  elongated  and 
attenuated  that  practically  the  democracy  has  ab- 
dicated. True,  it  has  always  had  the  club  in  re- 
serve, the  club  of  withholding  funds.  If  the  peo- 
ple are  not  satisfied  with  the  management,  they 
can  control  or  overthrow  it  by  refusing  to  con- 
tribute to  the  cause  it  represents.  This  argument 
has  been  advanced  repeatedly  by  the  advocates  of 
a  more  autocratic  administration,  but  it  is  a  poor 
argument,  for  two  reasons;  first,  the  best  people 
are  least  disposed  to  use  the  club.  They  will  endure 
much  that  they  think  unwise  or  even  wrong  in 
mission  management,  as  in  other,  before  they  will 
resort  to  it;  for  it  always  seems  to  have  a  vision 
of  bigotry,  a  voice  of  quarreling,  and  a  hand  of 
violence;  and,  secondly,  the  argument  is  poor  be- 
cause it  is  wrong — wrong  in  that  it  is  inconsistent, 
cowardly,  and  shiftless.  Freedom,  courage,  and 
energy  alike  dislike  it.  The  right  way  for  a  free 
people  is  to  keep  themselves  under  their  responsi- 
bility for  the  Lord's  business  by  keeping  their  hand 
on  the  direction  of  that  business  as  closely  and  as 
firmly  as  is  consistent  with  the  most  efficient  prose- 
cution of  it.  To  sneak  away  from  the  work  under 
the  ultimatum,  which  always  wears  an  aspect  of 
covetousness,  the  ultimatum,  "  I  will  not  give  any- 
thing," has  always  been  unworthy  of  us  and  is 
more   unworthy   now   than   ever   before. 

The  people  stand  over  against  two  antiphonals. 


DOCTRINAL  IO7 

eitlier  of  which  may  become  an  antagonist — the  or- 
ganization and  the  administration.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  either,  but  it  is  sometimes  possible  for 
the  first  and  always  for  the  second.  The  organiza- 
tion may  be  such  that  the  sup])orters  cannot  reach 
it  with  control.  The  administration  is  different.  A 
Board  of  Management  must  of  necessity  have  dis- 
cretionary powers  for  large  operations.  In  propor- 
tion, other  things  being  equal,  as  the  same  individuals 
continually  constitute  the  Board,  and  are  left  unchal- 
lenged in  their  management,  they  tend  to  become 
careless  of  the  wishes  of  their  constituency  or  con- 
temptuous toward  them.  This  is  not  to  suggest  fre- 
quent changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  Board ;  the 
best  persons  for  doing  its  business  should  compose 
it  without  regard  to  continuity  of  service;  but 
it  is  a  suggestion,  which,  however,  no  observant 
person  needs,  that  the  people  keep  close  to  the  ad- 
ministration, sympathetically  always,  suggestively 
on  occasion,  and  strenuously  in  an  emergency.  Who- 
ever says  that  in  a  position  of  power  without  being 
watched  he  is  not  tempted  to  become  careless  or 
contemptuous,  in  that  saying  proclaims  either  his 
own  perfection  unwisely  or  his  own  folly  surpri- 
singly. Therefore  the  people  should  construct  their 
organizations  open  to  the  ramifications  of  their  own 
thinking,  and  clothe  their  Boards  of  administration 
with  harness  buckled  to  encourage  pulling  and  dis- 
courage prancing. 

Baptists,  above  others,  are  held  to  this  conception 


I08  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

of  missionary  organization  by  their  conspicuous  ac- 
ceptance and  advocacy  of  the  two  most  apphcable 
fundamentals,  freedom  and  fidelity,  liberty  and 
loyalty,  the  essential  equality  of  the  brotherhood  and 
the  undivided  authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
These  are  fundamental  and  fundamentally  construct- 
ive. They  are  doctrines,  but  practical  and  prac- 
ticable. And  they  have  no  closer  connection  with 
the  Christian  experience  than  with  the  Christian 
service,  whether  that  service  be  considered  in  its 
divine  or  its  human  relations.  The  authority,  the 
dignity,  the  sanctity  of  Christ  is  as  profoundly 
and  as  pervasively  in  one  saint  as  in  another.  It  is 
therefore  no  part  of  Baptist  "  statesmanship  "  in 
missions,  or  elsewhere,  to  despise  or  defy  or  evade 
the  brotherhood.  This  conception  may  recur  in 
points  of  detail  later  on;  it  is  now  set  out  com- 
prehensively. Details  aside,  it  is  laid  down  as 
fundamental  in  the  soundest  foundation,  that  the 
organization  for  missions  which  holds  the  whole 
people  most  closely  to  the  center  of  administration, 
is  most  consistent  doctrinally  as  well  as  most  effect- 
ive practically. 

CONTRIBUTIONS    AND    CHARACTER 

Having  laid  the  democratic  principle  as  a  working 
basis,  we  meet  as  the  first  issue  arising  out  of  it, 
that  between  financial  contributions  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  contributor.  This  at  once  opens  a  com- 
plexity and  challenges  analysis.     The  question  ap- 


DOCTRINAL  IO9 

pears,  What  kind  of  character;  social,  moral,  eccle- 
siastical, doctrinal,  spiritual?  The  analysis  might 
be  extended,  but  that  would  increase  the  confusion 
which,  with  these  five,  is  already  enough.  And 
these  are  more  than  we  find  historically.  Look- 
ing for  the  searchlights  that  have  been  turned  by 
Baptists  on  the  character  of  contributors  to  mis- 
sions, we  find  only  those  that  can  be  resolved  into 
three — the  moral,  the  doctrinal,  and  the  ecclesias- 
tical. Chronologically  they  appear  rather  in  this 
order,  but  in  the  interest  awakened  by  them  and 
the  attention  given  to  them  in  the  aggregate,  the  doc- 
trinal holds  the  lowest  place,  partly  because  it  has 
been  absorbed  in  the  ecclesiastical,  one's  church- 
membership  being  taken  as  a  certificate  of  his  ortho- 
doxy;  but  limitedly,  the  orthodoxy  of  the  con- 
tributor who  comes  into  control  has  been  noticed 
separately  in  those  organizations  in  which  the  con- 
tributor may  become  a  voting  or  a  managing  mem- 
ber on  the  financial  basis  solely.  But  this  issue 
belongs  under  the  next  caption.  The  spiritual  char- 
acter of  the  contributor  has  hardly  been  considered 
because  it  has  been  viewed  as  not  essential  or  dis- 
regarded, like  the  doctrinal,  as  certified  by  the  ec- 
clesiastical. The  ecclesiastical  will  have  separate 
treatment  in  this  discussion,  and  is  therefore  omitted 
here.  This  leaves  the  moral  issue,  which  may  be 
disposed  of  at  once. 

The  issue  between  the  financial  and  the  moral 
in  the  contributor  has  always  been  involved  and 


no  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

sometimes  acute,  perhaps  more  so  now  than  ever 
in  the  past,  at  least  in  one  aspect  of  it.  The  first 
Baptist  missionary  organizations  were  on  a  financial- 
individual  basis.  Neither  the  doctrinal  nor  the 
ecclesiastical  consideration  was  recognized  practi- 
cally. Any  one  who  paid  the  initiation  fee  was 
therefore  a  member,  though  from  the  beginning  he 
was  not  therefore  necessarily  eligible  to  place  in  the 
management.  At  first,  the  possibility  that  any  dan- 
ger might  lie  here  was  so  slight  that  apparently  little 
or  no  thought  was  given  to  it.  The  Triennial  Con- 
vention laid  down  its  longer  lines  more  tightly. 
Earlier  than  it,  the  opinion  evidently  was  that  any 
one  who  took  interest  enough  on  any  ground  in  the 
uplift  of  the  lowly  to  contribute  to  a  missionary  so- 
ciety was  qualified  to  become  a  voting  member.  And 
later  than  1814,  the  organizations  that  perpetuated 
the  original  basis  of  membership  perpetuated  this 
view  of  it  in  the  main.  But  gradually  the  issue  in 
its  earlier  form  has  gone  out  with  the  disappearance 
of  the  methods  of  organization  with  which  it  was 
involved.  In  our  time  the  moral  issue  has  come 
into  prominence  in  the  discussions  over  "  tainted 
money."  Much  more  radical  views  of  the  relation 
of  the  way  in  which  a  man  got  his  money  to  the 
acceptability  of  it  for  missionary  purposes  have 
come  to  the  front.  That  grist  is  still  in  the  mill. 
So  far  as  the  grinding  has  progressed  at  the  time  of 
this  writing  and  according  to  the  understanding  of 
this  writer,  the  newer  conviction  has  not  prevailed 


DOCTRINAL  1 1  I 

effectually  very  far.  While  a  considerable  senti- 
ment has  found  expression  in  favor  of  going  behind 
the  funds  offered  to  scrutinize  the  methods  by  which 
they  were  accumulated,  and  reject  the  result  if  the 
process  proves  to  have  been  discreditable,  this  senti- 
ment has  failed  to  get  appreciable  grip  on  the 
machinery  of  missions,  because  it  has  failed  to  com- 
mend itself  to  those  who  have  determined  the  result. 
This  is  called  the  newer  conviction,  because  it  has 
not  been  noticeably  advanced  until  recently.  The 
understanding  of  our  predecessors  appears  to  have 
been,  with  substantial  unanimity,  that  "  the  altar 
sanctifies  the  gift";  that  no  matter  through  what 
channel  the  stream  of  money  has  flowed,  if  it  flows 
into  the  mission  treasury,  let  it  flow.  And  why 
not?  The  business  of  Christianity  is  to  cleanse  the 
polluted  and  convert  the  perverted.  Why  does  not 
this  apply  to  money  and  the  use  of  it?  If,  for  in- 
stance, a  saloonist  offers  to  missions  a  dollar  gained 
in  his  business  with  the  alternative,  expressed  or 
implied,  that  if  it  is  not  accepted  it  will  be  put 
to  immoral  uses,  does  not  that  lay  a  duty  concern- 
ing the  future  of  that  dollar  on  the  missionary  peo- 
ple, the  duty  to  convert  and  cleanse  it?  To  reject 
it  insures  the  continuance  of  its  "  taint,"  and  the 
responsibility  for  its  character  and  service  falls  on 
those  who,  by  accepting  it,  might  have  changed  both. 
But  while  this  seems  to  be  a  sound  principle  it  is 
confessedly  dangerous  because  of  temptations  in- 
hering in  it.     It  involves  a  possible  temptation  to 


112  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOI^    MISSIONS 

solicit  the  aid  of  the  saloon,  which,  of  course,  should 
never  be  done.  It  also  involves  more  distinctly, 
and  at  the  same  time  more  subtly,  the  temptation  to 
fraternize  with  it,  either  by  speech  of  approval 
or  apology  or  by  silence  of  rebuke  or  protest. 
If  in  any  of  these  ways,  or  any  other,  to  receive 
and  cleanse  the  dollar  involves  polluting  the  re- 
ceiver, let  it  be  rejected.  The  argument,  then,  for 
declining  the  so-called  "  tainted  money,"  appears  to 
be  for  the  protection  of  the  weak  rather  than  the 
guidance  of  the  strong.  If  it  is  needed  as  a  pro- 
tector, apply  it  as  such;  but  if  it  is  not,  save  the 
dollar.  Due  weight  should  also  be  given  to  the 
consideration  that  motives  in  receiving  such  aid  may 
be  misconstrued  by  the  world  to  the  detriment  of 
spiritual  interests.  But  this  is  perhaps  seldom  sig- 
nificant unless  the  receiver  succumbs  to  the  tempta- 
tion just  mentioned.  But  much  confusion  and  vacil- 
lation will  be  avoided  here  by  applying  inflexibly 
the  comprehensive  principle  that  a  church  should 
never  ask  anything  from  any  source  except  itself, 
nor  undertake  anything  that  it  cannot  do  with  no 
help  from  beyond  except  from  God. 

CHARACTER   AND    CONTROL 

This  issue  and  the  preceding  are  closely  related, 
but  clearly  distinct.  To  accept  funds  from  the 
heterodox  or  the  immoral  is  one  thing;  to  place 
these  characters  in  control  is  another  thing  and 
radically  different.     The  "  fathers  "  recognized  the 


DOCTRINAL  II3 

distinction  usually  from  the  first  and  were  guided 
by  it.  The  prevaihng  method  in  the  earher  local 
societies  was  what  might  be  called  the  split  method, 
which  admitted  to  control  in  part  on  the  financial 
basis,  but  not  wholly.  Money  made  membership, 
and  membership  held  the  voting  right  up  to  the 
election  of  the  directing  power ;  but  there  it  was 
curtailed,  for  no  matter  how  many  voters  might 
appear  without  regard  to  character,  they  must  re- 
gard character  in  the  candidates  for  whom  they 
voted  as  administrators.  The  Massachusetts  Bap- 
tist Missionary  Society,  1802,  opened  membership 
to  all  comers  with  the  cash,  but  it  restricted  place 
on  the  Board  of  Management  to  Baptists.  Its  ex- 
ample was  followed  generally.  The  Triennial  Con- 
vention on  its  Baptist-organization  basis  was  prac- 
tically secure  at  this  point.  But  the  Tract  Society, 
1824,  fell  away  entirely,  making  no  condition  of 
character  in  its  control ;  and  the  Home  Mission  So- 
ciety pushed  its  outreach  after  constituency  so  far 
that  it  might  have  brought  some  into  relations  of 
control  without  character  conditions.  But  both 
soon  recovered  the  lost  connection  between  char- 
acter and  control.  So  far  as  these  lapses  occurred, 
they  were  quite  certainly  always  the  result  of  heed- 
lessness rather  than  a  definite  defection  from  the 
principle  of  ultimate  control  lodged  in  those  of  the 
highest  character  consonant  with  the  design  of  the 
organization. 

The  discussions  in  this  field  were  confined  mainly 
][ 


114  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

to  the  character  of  the  contributor  in  relation  to 
membership  and  not  to  giving  or  to  managing. 
This  issue  came  out  with  exceptional  fulness  in 
1842,  at  least  so  far  as  manifest  in  official  discus- 
sion. In  that  year  an  official  editorial  in  the  maga- 
zine recognized  existing  criticism  of  the  Triennial 
Convention  because  it  received  contributions  from 
the  ungodly,  but  the  criticism  was  not  dignified  with 
any  reply,  which  suggests  that  it  was  not  con- 
spicuous. But  two  months  earlier  the  same  editorial 
writer  had  argued  at  considerable  length  for  ad- 
mission to  membership  of  all  contributors.  The 
editorial  said :  "  If  a  person  can  sympathize  in  any 
measure  with  the  condition  of  the  heathen  in  their 
present  state  of  moral  degradation,  and  has  knowledge 
enough  of  the  gospel  to  perceive  that  the  heathen 
would  be  benefited  by  it,  if  its  divine  precepts  were 
communicated  to  them,  he  has  all  that  is  indispen- 
sable for  membership  in  such  an  association.  He 
has  not  everything  that  is  desirable  certainly  for 
such  a  service  [for  that  he  'must  have  been  made 
alive  from  the  dead,'  and  become  a  consecrated 
church-member],  but  it  certainly  is  not  an  indis- 
pensable qualification  for  membership  in  a  mis- 
sionary association  that  a  man  be  a  Christian.  Such 
manifestly  was  the  view  taken  of  this  subject  by 
the  framers  of  the  constitution  of  the  Triennial 
Convention.  They  named  as  persons  to  be  asso- 
ciated, members  of  the  Baptist  denomination,  in- 
cluding both  churches  and  congregations.     This  is 


DOCTRINAL  II5 

a  broad  platform,  upon  which  all  may  stand.  Such 
is  the  nature  of  this  work  that  the  most  of  those 
who  will  be  attracted  to  it  will  be  a  devoutly  pious 
people,  but  if  any  should  come  with  their  offerings, 
who  have  not  yet  attained  to  the  liberty  of  the  sons 
of  God,  let  them  not  be  frowned  away.  It  is  the 
altar  that  sanctifies  the  gift."  This  quotation  is  a 
quite  fair  and  full  expression  of  what  seems  for  a 
long  time  to  have  been  the  prevalent  view.  The 
reader  will  observe  that  it  confuses  the  two  things 
that  we  have  just  been  separating — contributing  and 
voting.  In  this  it  was  representative  of  the  general 
mind  at  that  time.  We  have  moved  to  stricter 
ground  concerning  membership  and  the  control 
which  it  involves,  if  not  concerning  the  right  of 
some  classes  of  transgressors,  at  least,  to  be  con- 
tributors at  all. 

UNITY    OF    CHARACTER    IX    CO-OPERATION' 

What  has  now  been  said  leads  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  unity  of  the  Christian  character  and  of 
the  Christian  work.  This  issue,  in  its  first  element, 
puts  itself  into  this  question:  May  a  Christian  have 
a  dual  character;  may  he  be  one  character  for  one 
connection,  and  another — a  different,  a  contradictory 
— for  another  connection  ?  May  he  construe  himself 
as  constructed  in  compartments,  morally  and  spirit- 
ually, so  that  in  one  association  he  may  rightly  close 
one  or  more  compartment  of  character,  ignore  it, 
and  sail  on  without  taking  account  of  it,  as  he  may 


Il6  BAPTISTS   MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

not  do  in  another  association?  May  he  accept  and 
apply  a  different  set  of  moral  principles  in  business 
from  those  recognized  in  religion,  different  in  so- 
ciety from  those  in  the  church?  Or  must  he  not 
recognize  his  Christian  character  as  a  unit,  indi- 
visible, with  all  the  principles  essential  to  it  any- 
where also  essential  to  it  everywhere? 

Reversing  the  view,  and  so  reaching  our  theme  in 
its  second  element,  the  problem  gets  into  this  form : 
May  the  non-Christian  be  recognized  as  dual  in 
relation  to  Christian  work?  Are  we  justified  in  so 
recognizing  him  in  the  prosecution  of  any  enterprise 
in  which  we  are  engaged  as  distinctively  Christian? 
Specifically,  when  a  company  of  Christians  establish 
a  missionary  organization,  whose  essential  purpose, 
always  paramount,  is  evangelism,  on  a  wider  field, 
of  the  same  sorts  of  sinners  and  by  the  same  proc- 
esses as  these  Christians  contemplate  when  they 
found  a  church — and  after  conversion,  the  edifica- 
tion in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  converts  on  the  same 
principles  and  in  the  same  processes — may  these 
Christians  bring  the  non-Christians  into  any  other 
relations  to  the  missionary  society  than  the  relations 
recognized  for  them  in  the  church?  Or,  on  the 
other  hand,  does  the  fact  that  one  part  of  the  same 
kind  of  enterprise  is  local  and  the  other  general, 
or  one  part  operated  by  a  single  church  and  the 
other  by  a  combination  of  churches,  or  one  field 
cultivated  by  Christians  combined  in  a  church  or 
churches  and  the  other  field  by  the  same  Christians 


DOCTRINAL  11/ 

combined  in  a  missionary  society — do  any  such  dif- 
ferences release  tlie  Christian  in  one  relation  from 
those  principles  that  are  obligatory  in  the  others? 
These  questions  nm  the  divider  between  the  two 
fields  we  were  previously  considering,  and  eliminates 
the  confusion  formerly  appearing  of  the  two  char- 
acters, contributor  and  controller,  in  the  non-Chris- 
tian. And  it  seems  self-evident  that  as  our  Baptist 
missionary'  organizations  have  left  out  of  mem- 
bership those  who  did  not  come  into  church-mem- 
bership, they  have  reached  a  more  consistent  posi- 
tion, set  their  feet  on  more  solid  ground,  strength- 
ened their  testimony  against  all  error,  and  disfel- 
lowshiped  more  decisively  all  worldliness,  thus  set- 
ting a  higher  standard  for  the  church  life,  the  spir- 
itual life,  and  the  missionary  life. 

The  period  with  which  the  preceding  paragraph 
ends  might  easily  explode  into  several  questions, 
some  of  which  can  be  better  picked  up  farther  along 
than  here.  One  question,  however,  seems  to  cling 
to  this  connection  with  special  significance:  Are  not 
our  missionar}'  operations  now  bringing  into  recog- 
nition or  prominence  as  parts  of  missionary 
methods,  some  processes,  hitherto  not  recognized  or 
emphasized,  which  strengthen  the  former  argument 
for  mixed  elements  in  membership?  Do  not  the 
educational,  the  medical,  the  philanthropic,  gener- 
ally, as  they  are  now  looming  large  on  the  mission- 
ary horizon,  look  toward  partnership  in  management 
for  those  who.  while  not  qualified  for  church-mem- 


Il8  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

bership,  still  have  so  intelligent  and  sincere  a  sym- 
pathy with  the  minor  modes  of  the  missionary 
thought,  that  courtesy,  or  a  genuine  fellowship  in 
these  modes,  may  justify  a  reversion  on  this  point? 
That  is,  if  a  man  has  the  money  for  a  school  or  a 
hospital  among  the  heathen,  but  does  not  believe 
in  Christ  or  in  the  Baptist  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  still  gives  his  money  for  humanitarian 
purposes,  should  not  the  rigidity  of  the  lines  of 
control,  or  the  terms  of  membership,  be  relaxed? 
Two  replies  to  this  style  of  inquiry  are  suggested : 
First,  these  minor  methods  are  not  new.  More  than 
is  usually  recognized,  our  predecessors  had  these 
things  in  view,  and  the  thought  that  the  pagan 
needed  the  by-products  of  Christianity  for  his  com- 
fort and  culture  in  the  things  of  this  life.  Some  of 
the  earlier  attempts  among  the  American  Indians 
emphasized  them  and  made  them  the  ground  of  ap- 
peals to  all  classes  of  civilized  citizenship.  More 
than  a  hundred  years  ago  Baptist  appeals  to  other 
Christians  and  to  all  men  for  support  for  the  work 
of  the  English  in  India  made  this  consideration 
prominent.  This  sentiment  in  the  school  aspect 
once  met  opposition  that  now  seems  to  have  disap- 
peared, and  some  of  our  earlier  missionaries  in  the 
East  were  deeply  grieved  because  their  plans  for 
schools  were  thwarted  by  official  opposition  at  home. 
Secondly,  the  sentiment  always  evident  has  now 
come  more  to  the  front  largely  through  the  in- 
crease  of    facilities   and    resources,    with   a   wider 


DOCTRINAL  1 1 9 

opening  of  opportunity  through  poHtical  changes. 
This  involves  a  profound  peril,  the  depth  of  which 
may  be  increased  by  that  indifference  to  the  doc- 
trinal, and  through  it  the  spiritual,  the  disintegrating 
power  of  which  has  not  yet  spent  itself.  The  peril 
is  that  both  the  volume  and  the  tone  of  our  mis- 
sionary evangel  will  be  damaged  by  the  insistence 
of  the  minor  to  the  comparative  exclusion  or  the 
positive  dilution  or  pollution  of  the  major.  If 
our  educational  and  philanthropic  work  shall  cease 
to  be  a  means  to  the  higher  end,  and  shall  become 
the  end  to  which  the  spiritual  shall  be  subordinated, 
or  with  which  it  shall  be  placed  on  equality,  then 
our  guilt  at  once  and  our  shame  later  will  be  in- 
evitable. For  that  reason  the  higher  ground,  in 
the  field  now  under  consideration,  to  which  we  have 
come,  should  be  sedulously  maintained,  fortified, 
and  perfected   (21). 

"the   money   BASIS'" 

This  discussion  has  now  reached  a  station  dis- 
tinctly within  denominational  lines.  Here  it  meets 
an  issue,  strenuous  in  the  past  and  the  present, 
commonly  called,  "  The  Money  Basis."  This  phrase 
has  been  common  among  Baptists  for  a  long  time, 
but  it  has  not  always  reached  a  common  interpre- 
tation. 

Strictly  speaking,  the  money  basis  means  that 
money  is  the  sole  condition  of  standing.  That 
alone  makes  it  properly  "  the  basis."    In  that  sense 


I20  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

it  has  had  place  in  Baptist  missionary  organizations, 
but  has  now  lost  it.  It  should  never  have  had  the 
place.  For  a  spiritual  people  to  lay  down  a  finan- 
cial test  as  the  sole  condition  of  participation  in 
the  management,  or  in  any  relation  of  influence  to 
the  management,  of  their  spiritual  enterprises,  is 
discreditably  inconsistent.  This  was  the  chief  stain 
on  those  earlier  Baptist  missionary  organizations 
which  had  so  many  creditable  characteristics.  And 
it  is  to  the  denomination's  honor  that  with  the 
bringing  of  mission  management  nearer  to  the 
people  and  more  closely  into  connection  with  the 
churches,  this  kind  of  money  basis  has  disappeared. 
We  may  be  more  the  victims  of  the  money  mania  in 
some  things  than  our  predecessors  were,  but  not 
in  this  thing.  When  the  Baptists  separated  in  1845, 
the  Southern  Convention  perpetuated  this  stigma 
carried  over  from  the  former  connection ;  and  the 
Missionary  Union  not  only  adopted  it,  but  laid  it  on 
with  broader  brush  and  in  deeper  tint.  But  both 
have  wiped  it  out,  and  all  collateral  Baptist  or- 
ganizations have  joined  in  its  elimination.  This 
has  occurred  in  a  commercial  era  while  some  strong 
tides  bore  the  other  way. 

But  when  we  say  "  money  basis  "  with  the  mean- 
ing that  the  contribution  of  money,  or  its  equiva- 
lent, is  made  a  condition  of  control  or  member- 
ship, we  are  dealing  with  another  proposition.  Bap- 
tists have  usually  maintained  this  condition.  They 
should  never  abandon  it.     It  is  Christian  distinctly 


DOCTRINAL  121 

and  honest  essentially.  There  is  no  exclusiveness 
or  inequity  in  saying  to  those  who  can  help  and  will 
not  help,  "  You  cannot  ride  well  and  you  shall  not 
drive  at  all."  Every  church  should  say  that  to  every 
member  in  local  relations.  Rare  exceptions  aside 
(for  which  mollifying  adjustments  can  be  made 
easily  and  consistently),  as  a  general  proposition  it 
stands  securely  that  when  one's  interest  falls  dead 
at  the  line  of  financial  contribution,  especially  where 
financial  need  is  steady  and  great,  the  delinquent 
forfeits  all  rights  of  recognition.  Let  him  come 
into  the  meeting  before  the  contribution  or  let  him 
stay  out  till  after  the  benediction.  God  offers  no 
benediction  to  him  who  has  money  but  will  not 
devote  it  to  God's  work;  and  the  people  of  God 
in  every  combination  in  his  name  should  be  as  he  is. 
This  makes  the  financial  condition  a  test  of  char- 
acter, and  so  lifts  it  into  the  realm  of  character. 
The  sole  money  condition,  "  basis,"  antagonizes  and 
discredits  its  spiritual  character,  but  this  glorifies  it 
and  works  with  it  (22). 

The  failure  to  discriminate  at  this  juncture  has 
caused  confusion  of  thought  and  unprofitable  dis- 
cussion. The  denomination  arose  in  conditions 
which  swung  it  sharply  toward  an  unreasoning  im- 
pulse against  financial  exaction  and  exactness.  The 
effect  has  persisted  naturally.  Our  good  will, 
therefore,  has  had  more  difficulty  in  expressing  it- 
self in  money  than  the  good  will  of  some  other 
good  people.     Directly  we  have  well  escaped,  but 


122  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

indirectly  the  effort  may  still  tinge  our  thinking. 
For  instance,  the  sound  conception  of  a  church  as 
spiritual  may,  by  a  little  warping,  minimize  the 
financial  obligation  in  church  relations  until  the 
New  Testament  teaching  on  stewardship  in  property 
is  abandoned  or  depleted,  the  whole  spiritual  life 
thus  being  damaged.  Interlinked  with  this,  the  in- 
dependence of  the  church,  as  a  supremely  divine 
institution,  has  been  and  is  magnified  until  some 
Baptists  seem  to  think  that  a  Baptist  church  ought 
to  be  admitted  unconditionally  into  full  member- 
ship in  any  organization  calling  itself  Baptist.  But 
this  name  has  no  sanctity  and  no  authority  in  such 
relations  as  those  under  consideration,  in  which  a 
Baptist  church  should  come  under  the  same  tests  as 
other  co-operators ;  if  it  will  not  help,  let  it  not  vote. 

THE    CHURCH    AND   OTHER    BODIES 

The  last  point  in  the  preceding  section  points  to 
the  church  in  missions.  We  use  the  word  church 
in  the  ordinary  and  proper  Baptist  meaning  of  it 
— ^the  organized  congregation.  So  understood,  it 
has  caused  much  discussion,  first  and  last,  involving 
and  evolving  much  heat,  by  friction  or  otherwise. 
It  may  be  added  that  heat  and  light  have  not  always 
kept  even  step  in  some  of  these  discussions.  The 
historic  material  pertinent  here  may  properly  be 
gathered  under  four  captions — Excluded,  Exclusive, 
Ranking,  and  Related.  That  is,  first,  the  church  has 
been  considered  as  excluded  from  the  list  of  mis- 


DOCTRINAL  1 23 

sionary  bodies,  missions  not  being  regarded,  at  least 
in  the  co-operative  aspect,  as  touched  by  the  duty  or 
the  right  of  a  church.  It  has  also,  secondly,  been 
viewed  as  itself  exclusive  of  all  other  missionary 
organizations,  the  church  being  conceived  of  as  not 
only  missionary,  but  as  holding  the  whole  mission- 
ary commission  in  its  sole  control,  so  that  it  should 
neither  relegate  it  to  individuals  on  one  side  nor 
to  co-operative  organizations,  whether  composed  of 
churches  or  not,  on  the  other  side.  This  view  has 
been  modified,  thirdly,  into  the  ranking,  which 
means  that  the  church,  while  not  exclusive  of  other 
agencies  in  missions,  is  the  first  and  highest,  rank- 
ing all  others,  and  at  least  the  preferable  missionary 
body.  And,  fourthly,  the  church  having  been  ac- 
cepted as  one  among  missionary  agencies,  the  prob- 
lems of  its  relations  to  the  others  have  caused 
frequent  discussions  and  differences,  ramifying  vari- 
ously. 

I.  Excluded.  How  far  have  Baptists  regarded 
the  church  as  excluded  from  the  missionary  service? 
This  question  requires  two  answers.  First,  essen- 
tially, that  is,  in  the  spirit  and  law  of  its  life,  never 
—except  under  the  influence  of  such  antinomianism, 
"  hyper-Calvinism,"  as  excluded  individuals  in  the 
same  manner.  Baptists  have  sometimes  and  in  some 
sections  fallen  into  this  error  so  far  that  they  have 
regarded  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  sinners  as 
no  part  of  their  duty  or  privilege.  Manifestly, 
when    this    is    true    individually,    it    involves    the 


124  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

churches  composed  of  such  individuals.  Anti- 
nomian  churches  necessarily  exclude  themselves 
from  missions  and  missions  from  themselves. 
Secondly,  Baptist  churches  who  have  escaped  this 
error  have  been  more  or  less  slow  in  including  mis- 
sions among  their  duties  on  grounds  of  polity  or 
policy.  At  some  times  they  have  felt  that  the 
New  Testament  polity  rendered  it  impracticable  for 
churches  to  combine  effectively  in  the  wider  opera- 
tions ;  at  other  times,  while  not  regarding  the  polity 
as  raising  insuperable  difficulty,  they  have  held  back 
from  the  ordinary  processes  of  missions  on  grounds 
of  policy,  in  view  of  the  possibility  of  bringing  dis- 
cord and  disaster  to  the  churches  by  the  introduction 
of  the  larger  business  into  them,  or  into  the  Asso- 
ciation in  which  they  were  combined  under  the 
same  general  conceptions  as  those  of  the  churches 
locally. 

How  far  have  these  two  views  affected  American 
Baptists?  Very  little  in  the  first  one.  When  the 
English  Baptist  Missionary  Society  arose,  it  en- 
countered distinct  opposition  from  antinomianism ; 
but  when  Baptists  in  America  began  to  organize 
for  missions,  they  met  no  opposition  from  that 
source.  Throughout  this  country,  without  a  single 
exception,  the  strong  "  Calvinistic  "  centers  and  lead- 
ers were  the  strong  missionary  centers  and  leaders. 
Essentially  the  churches  were  missionary  all  over 
the  land  as  really  as  they  are  now.  But  on  the 
grounds  of  polity  and  policy  they  were  disposed  to 


DOCTRINAL  12$ 

base  the  larger  operations  on  individuals  or  on 
societies  which  were  themselves  composed  of  in- 
dividuals, when  it  was  well  understood  that  the  in- 
dividuals who  were  to  be  the  main  or  the  sole  sup- 
porters of  such  societies  were  members  of  Baptist 
churches.  Following  the  founding  of  the  Trien- 
nial Convention  and  continuing  to  the  present,  once 
strong  but  now  weak,  if  not  dead,  a  disastrous 
opposition  arose,  sprung  partly  from  antinomian- 
ism,  though  some  of  it  was  in  missionary  people, 
who  were  affected  by  considerations  of  polity, 
policy,  and  other  things. 

2.  Exclusive.  The  extreme  position  from  that 
just  considered  is  more  modern.  Both  rest  on  a 
high  appreciation  of  the  church,  but  the  results  of 
the  two  appreciations  are  antipodal,  because  they 
themselves  rest  on  different  grounds.  The  church 
has  been  excluded  from  missions  under  the  appre- 
hension of  its  family  character  and  duty.  This  has 
been,  as  just  now  stated,  because  those  emphasizing 
the  fellowship  element  in  the  church  felt  that  the 
mission  work  could  be  prosecuted  by  other  organ- 
izations as  well  or  better,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
church  be  shielded  from  those  injuries  which  might 
come  from  the  addition  of  the  larger  operations  to 
the  local.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  church  has 
been  viewed  as  excluding  all  other  organizations  on 
the  ground  that  the  "  Great  Commission "  was 
given  to  the  church  in  such  way  that  it  was  not  at 
liberty  to  transfer  any  of  it  to  any  other,  no  matter 


126  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

of  whom  composed  or  how  organized.  This  view 
lays  the  whole  missionary  burden  on  the  church 
directly,  but  it  seems  to  many  to  involve  difficulties 
in  administration  that  should  be  avoided  if  possible 
without  infraction  of  fundamentals,  and  they  have 
not  seen  that  any  fundamental  required  a  method 
so  loaded  with  impracticable  elements.  Recently  the 
excluding  contention  has  been  very  active  in  some 
parts,  has  gone  to  greater  extremes  perhaps  than 
earlier,  and  has  caused  unhappy  discussion.  But 
the  preference  for  the  direct  connection  of  the  indi- 
vidual churches  with  the  mission  or  missionary 
to  whose  support  it  contributed,  is  not  so  fresh  as 
may  be  thought.  It  appears  more  or  less  all  the 
way,  from  as  far  back  as  its  enlistment  of  the 
great  advocacy  of  Doctor  Wayland  seventy  years 
ago  or  more,  and  even  earlier  than  that.  It  may 
be  safe  to  say  that  some  have  always  sympathized 
with  it,  at  least  in  the  form  of  "  designated  funds," 
the  right  to  which  has  always  been  recognized  for 
churches  and  individuals,  though  the  managers  per- 
haps have  never  viewed  it,  even  in  this  milder  form, 
with  favor  because  of  the  involved  difficulties  in  ad- 
ministration. 

But  in  recent  times  the  elevation  of  the  emphasis 
on  the  church  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  organiza- 
tions has  rooted  in  mQH"e  seriously  doctrinal  prob- 
lems. When  it  is  carried  to  the  affirmation  that 
the  church  alone  has  divine  authority  to  prosecute 
missions,  it  takes  on  a  "  high  church  "  aspect  in- 


DOCTRINAL  12/ 

consistent  in  Baptists,  as  well  as  infringes  individ- 
ualism, and  it  fails  to  find  support  in  Scripture. 
With  earnest  reiteration,  if  not  vehement  and  posi- 
tive to  the  limit,  it  is  sometimes  said  that  our  Lord 
gave  the  Commission  to  the  church  and  to  no  one 
else.  But  it  is  not  so  written.  No  evidence  ap- 
pears that  any  church,  in  the  sense  of  an  organized 
body,  was  present.  An  assembly  was  there,  but 
so  far  as  appears  it  was  a  crowd  rather  than  a 
church,  in  the  present  meaning  of  those  terms.  So 
far,  however,  this  exclusive  view  has  not  been  able 
to  make  much  headway  practically.  It  finds  itself 
driven  to  that  degree  of  organization  beyond  the 
churches  against  which  it  protests,  or  it  fails  to  hold 
its  friends  to  sufficient  volume,  continuity,  and  com- 
bination of  support  to  get  ahead  very  far. 

3.  Ranking.  Somewhere  between  the  excluded 
and  the  exclusive  place,  the  church  comes  in  as  the 
ranking  member  of  the  missionary  forces.  Esca- 
ping from  the  excluded  and  repudiating  the  exclu- 
sive, it  steps  into  the  chief  place.  It  is  recognized 
as  the  first  missionary  organization  and  the  last. 
Before  Boards  and  societies,  before  committees  and 
conventions,  it  stands,  primary  chronologically,  dis- 
tinctively and  effectively ;  and  when  they  have  all 
disbanded  and  disappeared,  it  remains.  This  is  in- 
herent constitutionally  and  continually.  A  truly 
Christian  church  holds  this  place  by  virtue  of  its 
nature.  Those  who  have  the  mind  of  Christ  are 
necessarily  missionary.     To  this  they  are  impelled 


128  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

by  his  love,  and  to  this  they  are  propelled  by  his 
law.  The  result  is  spontaneous,  first  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  secondly  in  the  church,  which  is  the 
central  focus  of  the  Christian  life.  The  present 
time  needs  but  little  emphasis  of  this  thought  theo- 
retically. As  evinced  in  the  historical  part  of  this 
work.  Baptists  have  ever  tended  toward  this  posi- 
tion, however  restrained  by  their  emphasis  on  other 
aspects  of  church  life  or  by  the  "  cold  shoulder  " 
of  those  managers  who  have  appreciated  their  own 
ability  to  manage.  Indeed,  so  far  has  the  recog- 
nition of  the  church  as  the  ranking  force  in  mis- 
sions gone  in  the  opening  decade  of  the  twentieth 
century,  that  it  has  reached  relatively  an  extreme 
as  marked  as  the  opposite  a  hundred  years  earlier. 
In  some  quarters  it  is  heralded  widely  now  that 
mission  work  is  the  great  or  the  greatest  or  the 
only  work  of  a  church.  But  this  is  not  true  with- 
out large  modification.  This  modification  was  never 
more  needed,  perhaps,  than  now  for  the  highest 
quality  and  the  longest  reach  of  missions  themselves. 
Let  us  get  our  heads  clear  and  reflect  a  little. 
The  New  Testament  teaches  comprehensively  and 
logically.  The  order  in  which  its  books  have  been 
placed  by  Providence  formulates  its  logic.  This 
remark  applies  to  the  doctrine  of  missions  as  to 
every  other  doctrine.  If  we  are  in  danger  of  an 
excessive  relative  emphasis  on  missions,  the  sub- 
stance and  the  order  of  the  New  Testament  in- 
struct and  warn  us.    Consider.    The  farewell  words 


DOCTRINAL  129 

of  Jesus  in  person  contain  the  great  command- 
ment of  conquest,  but  the  bulk  if  not  all  of  the 
New  Testament  comes  after  his  departure.  This 
is  in  accord  with  his  own  intimation  while  in  the 
flesh.  During  that  time  he  instituted  preliminary 
missions  imbedded  in  preliminary  teaching,  the  vol- 
ume of  the  latter  exceeding  that  of  the  former. 
Departing,  he  expanded  the  missionary  outlook  to 
cover  the  whole  world  and  all  time.  But  this 
last  was  to  his  disciples,  as  individuals,  collected, 
but  not  combined.  And  then  he  went  away,  leav- 
ing the  remainder  of  the  divine  order  to  be  un- 
folded under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as 
he  had  provided. 

The  order  of  that  unfolding  was  on  the  same 
general  plan  and  in  the  same  dominant  elements 
as  appeared  in  his  sojourn  on  earth.  The  New 
Testament,  after  the  Gospels,  is  the  book  of  the 
church ;  first,  as  a  simple  organization,  and,  sec- 
ondly, for  a  complex  indoctrination..  This  indoc- 
trination focalizes  in  the  church  as  an  organiza- 
tion adjusted  to  the  whole  Christian  life.  This 
teaching  is  adjusted  to  the  churches,  and  is  for 
their  edification  in  their  individual  members  and  in 
their  combination  of  individuals.  Rounding  out  this 
course  of  constructive  teaching,  the  New  Testament 
places  the  book  of  Revelation,  whose  soul  is  con- 
flict and  conquest  and  whose  great  eye  glows  the 
coming  ages  through.  The  combined  Christian  life, 
following  the  indoctrination  that  alone  can  qualify 
I 


130  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR   MISSIONS 

it  for  the  conflict  and  the  conquest,  has  disclosed 
to  it  in  this  last  book  the  path  it  must  tread.  And 
there  inspiration  leaves  it  under  the  awful  and 
adequate  assumption  that  this  educated  life  will 
know  the  way  to  go,  and  go  that  way  through  all 
time  till  He  comes.  All  that  we  here  epitomize 
concentrates  into  this :  The  primary  business  of  a 
Christian  church  is  to  make  character  through  truth. 
Its  secondary  business  is  to  bring  others  into  dis- 
cipleship  for  the  same  character-building  through 
the  same  processes.  And  this  second  part  is  so 
scantily  commanded,  if  indeed  it  is  enjoined  at  all 
on  a  church,  because  when  the  first  part,  indoc- 
trination, has  been  done  according  to  the  divine 
plan,  the  second  part,  evangelization,  will  take  care 
of  itself  according  to  the  involved  life,  and  there- 
fore needs  no  command.  When,  then,  we  magnify 
evangelization  or  missions  to  the  minimizing  of  in- 
doctrination of  all  disciples  in  all  the  truth,  we  re- 
verse the  order  of  the  New  Testament  and  guar- 
antee to  our  missions  a  faltering  future  and  a  beg- 
garly harvest.  In  this  conception  of  it  we  realize 
and  magnify  the  church  as  the  ranking  missionary 
organization.  As  it  comes  to  itself  in  this  concep- 
tion, it  will  take  the  place  of  first  rank  in  missions 
as  easily,  as  fearlessly,  and  as  exultingly  as  an  eagle 
takes  the  sun. 

4.  Related.  From  the  three  views  of  the  church 
so  far  presented,  the  fourth  and  final  view 
emerges.    The  church  is  the  first,  the  ranking,  mis- 


DOCTRINAL  I3I 

sionary  organization.  So  far  as  Christians  are 
obligated  to  missions  by  the  command  of  Christ 
or  the  normal  impulses  of  their  own  life,  it  would 
seem  to  be  the  only  one  for  the  loyal  disciple  and 
within  available  limits.  Why  should  a  disciple  of 
Christ  wish  to  do  any  Christian  w^ork  through  any 
other  organization  than  that  which  Christ  has  estab- 
lished as  the  home,  the  school,  and  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  Christian  Hfe?  This  question  is  fairly 
raised  for  many  applications,  but  in  no  other  than 
the  missionary  is  the  answer  more  obvious.  For 
this  term  is  only  another  for  evangelism,  soul- 
saving,  and  spiritual  upbuilding  such  as  the  church 
stands  for  in  its  immediate  activity.  So  soon  as 
a  church  gets  into  the  spirit  of  these  things  as 
they  lie  at  or  within  its  own  threshold,  it  gets  into 
the  spirit  of  the  same  things  beyond  and  still 
beyond,  so  far  as  the  human  material  extends, 
throughout  the  world.  Then  when  it  recognizes  in 
these  things  its  immensely  supreme  enterprise  and 
responsibility,  if  not  its  only  one,  and  adjusts  itself 
to  its  larger  endeavor  in  the  same  kind,  why  should 
it  seek,  desire,  or  admit  any  other  than  itself  for 
this  expression  of  itself?  The  only  reasonable 
answer  seems  to  be  that  no  reason  exists,  unless 
it  is  in  the  practical  problems  inherent  and  ines- 
capable in  expansion  of  area  and  the  consequent 
separation  and  attenuation  of  evangelizing  and  edi- 
fying agencies  and  operations.  The  whole  church 
cannot  go  to  the  whole  world  literally.     For  this  a 


132  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

combination  of  churches  is  necessary,  at  least  in 
ordinary  conditions,  and  out  of  this  necessity  issues 
may  arise  whose  solution  requires  or  suggests  other 
organizations,  with  which  the  churches  ally  them- 
selves practically  if  not  organically.  This  raises 
questions  concerning  the  principles  and  methods  of 
the  relations  of  the  churches  to  the  others.  Bap- 
tists have  been  able  to  raise  a  sufficient  number  of 
such  questions  to  whet  their  logic,  consume  their 
time,  and  test  their  tempers. 

(i)  At  the  base  a  fair  question  asserts  itself, 
which,  while  not  strictly  pertinent  perhaps,  still 
sends  its  entanglements  into  others,  the  relevancy 
of  which  is  evident.  It  is  a  question  of  individual- 
ism and  its  problems  that  runs  in  here.  The  in- 
dividual always  must  be  held  in  view,  because  he  is 
primary  and  inextinguishable  and,  therefore,  basal 
in  the  sound  solution  of  all  problems  of  organiza- 
tion. The  question  touches  the  reserved  right  of 
the  individual  to  act  independently  of  the  church 
whenever  he  chooses  to  do  so,  including  the  right 
to  act  with  any  outside  missionary  body,  giving  to 
it  what  otherwise  would  go  to  the  church  in  mis- 
sions. The  reply  to  this  proposition  should  take 
into  account  two  fundamental  principles.  One  is 
general,  applicable  to  all  questions  of  the  modi- 
fication of  individualism  through  combination.  As 
has  already  been  said,  when  the  individual  enters 
the  church  he  does  not  deny  his  individualism,  but 
he  does  modify   it  or  the  application  of  it.     He 


DOCTRINAL  133 

voluntarily  puts  limitations  on  it,  enters  into  an 
agreement  with  the  church  that  he  will  restrain 
himself  in  some  things  and  apply  himself  in  others 
in  consequence  of  the  claims  of  the  church  on 
him  as  a  member,  which  it  would  not  have  if  he 
were  not  a  member.  Some  of  these  may  be  speci- 
fied in  form  and  detail,  but  the  greater  part  of 
them  usually  and  wisely  are  implied  and  adjustable. 

Now,  this  general  law  applies  to  individualism  in 
missions.  Is  it  right  for  a  church-member  to  divert 
his  activity  or  sympathy  from  any  efforts  of  his 
church  to  those  of  the  same  class  in  another  church 
or  no  church?  Apply  this  question  anywhere,  and 
then  everywhere  hold  the  individualism  to  its  honor 
or  honesty  in  the  matter  touched.  May  a  man 
honorably,  can  a  man  honestly,  set  up  his  indi- 
vidualism against  his  church,  positively  or  nega- 
tively, so  long  as  he  is  a  member  of  it?  Is  he  not 
bound  by  honorable  implication,  if  not  by  honesty 
under  agreement,  to  do  any  kind  of  good  through 
his  own  church  that  he  desires  to  do  and  is  able 
to  do  (provided,  of  course,  that  his  church  is  doing 
that  kind  of  good),  unless  perchance  it  does  not 
need  all  he  has  for  that  cause?  Ought  not  church- 
membership  to  be  so  understood,  in  the  largest 
liberty,  as  to  bring  an  answer  of  loyalty  to  the 
church  in  all  such  questions?  If  one  does  not  so 
understand,  does  he  have  enough  of  the  right  kind 
of  fellowship  with  it  to  be  a  member  of  it? 

The  specific  answer  relates  to  missions  distinct- 


134  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

ively.  Does  not  the  conclusion  just  reached  apply 
to  missions?  It  does,  and  with  a  tightening  grasp. 
Its  voice  now  is  more  resonant  and  authoritative 
than  before.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  missions 
carry  the  member  into  one  of  the  two  distinctively 
church  functions,  its  specifics,  which  it  should 
never  abandon;  and  this  specific  is  that  one  in 
which  the  church  always  needs  all  the  support  that 
any  member  can  give.  While  the  function  of  home 
edification  is  primary  essentially,  its  limits  are  more 
attainable.  Some  churches  are  able  to  provide  more 
means  for  home  uses  than  they  can  well  use,  but 
no  church  has  resources,  financial  or  other,  to  meet 
all  the  needs  of  missions,  not  only  in  general,  but 
also  in  the  particular  fields  in  which  it  is  enlisted  or 
ought  to  be.  Any  missionary  denomination  could 
soon  put  millions  more  into  its  missions  without 
extravagance  or  obtrusion  beyond  the  proper  fields 
of  its  endeavor.  These  considerations  emphasize 
the  devoted  adjustment  of  individualism  to  the  co- 
operative relationship  in  missions  through  the 
church. 

(2)  The  way  now  seems  opening  to  bring  the 
churches  together  for  activity  in  missions  over  an 
area  as  extended  as  may  be  desired  and  feasible. 
If  we  have  come  so  far  harmoniously,  we  seem 
ready  to  close  the  discussion  and  proceed  to  busi- 
ness. We  have  only  to  rouse  the  churches  to  send 
their  representatives  authorized  to  formulate  the 
common  missionary  purpose  in  an  organization  ade- 


DOCTRINAL  1 35 

quate  to  the  effort  and  consistent  with  Baptist  prin- 
ciples. But  in  this  statement  of  our  attainment  we 
discover  that  we  have  not  quite  attained.  In  some 
sections  our  proposal  brings  us  into  collision  with  a 
strenuous  protest  from  a  large  number  of  brethren 
who  are  respectable  among  the  orthodox  in  general 
and  conspicuous  in  missions,  both  as  to  enthusiasm 
and  efficiency.  This  protest  was  never  more  ample 
and  earnest  than  now  in  some  parts  of  our  country, 
which  seems  to  make  it  necessary  to  fold  the  tent 
of  congratulation  and  unfurl  again  the  banner  of 
discussion. 

The  protest  arresting  us  is  venerable  in  the  past 
and  virile  in  the  present.  Let  us  meet  it  in  the 
open  and  see  what  we  can  do  with  it.  In  brief, 
we  are  assured  that  our  projected  procedure  is  a 
robust  heresy,  that  Baptist  churches  cannot  com- 
bine on  this  plan,  that  they  must  act  singly,  or  adopt 
an  agent  independently  established,  or  send  mes- 
sengers who,  when  they  meet,  act  as  individuals  and 
as  totally  independent  of  the  churches  sending  them 
as  if  those  churches  had  not  sent  them.  This 
affirmation  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  a  Bap- 
tist church  may  not,  because  it  cannot  consistently 
with  its  divine  constitution,  become  a  constituent 
in  any  other  organization  or  delegate  its  authority 
to  act  for  it  anywhere.  As  one  reflects  on  the 
possible  implications  and  ramifications  of  this 
proposition,  he  probably  sees  that  it  opens  a  fine 
field  for  ambuscades,  masquerades,  and  conclusions 


136  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

that  do  not  conclude.  This  is  written  courteously 
and  confidently.  The  writer  has  respectfully  con- 
sidered the  arguments  supporting  this  protest  as  ad- 
vanced by  "  the  fathers "  and  the  children.  He 
believes  it  to  be  indefensible,  and  will  test  it  scrip- 
turally,  logically,  historically,  and  actually.  To  do 
this  elaborately  would  require  much  space,  too 
much ;  but  concisely  will  not  require  much. 

a.  Scripturally.  By  this  is  meant  positive  state- 
ments in  the  Scriptures.  If  such  should  be  pro- 
duced, even  one  would  be  conclusive  for  a  sound 
Baptist;  but  not  one  can  be  produced.  The  New 
Testament  nowhere  forbids  a  church  to  combine  its 
operations  with  the  kindred  operations  of  any  other 
organization.  No  more  does  it  forbid  a  church  to 
embody  its  authority  in  a  member  as  its  repre- 
sentative either  to  act  singly  or  jointly  with  other 
like  representatives  anywhere.  That  the  earliest 
churches,  under  apostolic  guidance,  appointed  their 
members  to  carry  their  benevolence  abroad,  is  writ- 
ten ;  but  it  is  not  written  that  any  restrictions  in 
these  particulars  v*^ere  laid  on  them.  They  were 
probably  instructed  or  advised  how  to  conduct  the 
business,  or  left  to  their  own  judgment  and  the 
advice  of  Paul,  but  neither  is  stated.  If  it  had 
been  the  divine  design  to  lay  down  restrictions 
in  such  relations  for  permanent  application,  the 
record  of  this  character  furnishes  enough  pertinent 
opportunity,  and  the  fact  that  nothing  of  this  kind 
appears  argues  that  the  Lord  did  not  intend  to  com- 


DOCTRINAL  I37 

mand,  or  even  intimate,  that  churches  should  not 
use  Hberty  in  such  procedures,  restrained  only  by 
their  spiritual  sense  and  their  common  sense  in  ap- 
plying the  appropriate  logical  implications  and  sug- 
gestions.    Of  positive  Scripture  none  is  written. 

b.  Logically.  Are  the  views  to  which  we  demur 
justified  by  any  logical  implication?  Does  the  New 
Testament  lay  down  any  law  or  promulgate  any 
principle  rendering  these  church  actions  disorderly  ? 
It  does  not.  It  does  affirm  some  limitations  and  it 
does  imply  more,  but  they  are  not  of  this  nature. 
Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  and  a  Baptist 
church  is  composed  theoretically  of  those  who  are 
separated  from  the  world.  From  these  two  facts 
many  restrictions  flow  logically.  The  "  separation 
of  Church  and  State  "  comes  clearly  enough  from 
these  sources.  The  State  has  divine  authorization, 
indeed ;  but  its  constitution  and  mission  are  so 
different  from  those  of  the  church  that  alliance  be- 
tween them  is  inconsistent,  although  some  measure 
of  mutual  recognition  is  not.  But  no  law  or  prin- 
ciple of  Christianity  militates  logically  against  the 
union  of  Baptist  churches,  on  the  basis  of  their 
sameness  of  nature  and  purpose,  in  doing  anything 
to  which  duty  calls  them,  and  putting  their  joint 
authorization  into  any  agency  acting  for  them  in 
the  same  kind. 

Let  us  discriminate  and  clarify.  Clear  thinking 
will  be  helped  by  discrimination  between  the  two 
kinds  of  general  organizations,  namely,  those  that 


138  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

do  not  arise  out  of  the  churches  and  consist  of 
their  members  authorized  to  act  for  them,  and  those 
that  do  so  arise  and  act.  The  organizations  of 
extraneous  origin  or  materials  or  authorization  have 
been  and  still  are.  The  protest  against  the  union 
of  churches  with  such,  through  representatives  or  in 
the  recognition  of  churches  as  constituents  in  them, 
has  logical  standing-ground.  But  whatever  reason 
for  this  method  of  combination  in  missions  may 
have  existed  in  the  past,  no  reason  for  it  now  exists. 
Likewise,  the  former  grounds  of  the  excluded  and 
exclusive  attitudes  of  the  church  have  largely  dis- 
appeared. The  ground  on  which  this  protest  now 
makes  its  final  stand  is  ''  made  ground,"  artificial, 
not  naturally  produced  when  the  churches  recognize 
themselves  as  missionary  organizations  and  respond 
to  the  impulse  to  move  together  in  missions.  This 
remaining  obstruction  of  their  liberty  at  this  point 
is  superimposed,  not  inherent  in  those  principles 
which  this  writing  has  been  setting  forth  and  fol- 
lowing where  they  lead. 

Probing  for  the  root  error  in  the  thinking  of 
those  who  object  to  a  general  organization  on  a 
plan  of  church  representation,  we  find  it  in  their 
misapprehension  of  the  nature  of  such  organization. 
They  view  it  as  an  independent  and  authoritative 
entity.  Some  of  them  have  squandered  much 
ratiocination  in  working  out  a  series  of  independent 
Baptist  bodies,  detached  or  strung  together  by  a 
not    clearly    defined    cord    of    connection — church, 


DOCTRINAL  I39 

Association,  State  Convention,  larger  body — each 
complete  in  itself  and  flying  in  its  own  orbit  on 
its  own  authority.  This  seems  to  them  necessary  to 
the  preservation  of  liberty.  But  suppose  that  that 
final  body  be  considered  not  a  body  but  a  hand, 
not  an  authority  but  an  instrument,  reaching  out 
only  where  the  body  from  which  it  springs,  directs 
it,  and  vanishing  away  when  it  breaks  connection 
with  the  body  in  which  all  the  authority  for  its 
every  action  resides,  the  body  of  the  people  in  the 
churches.  Under  this  conception  the  whole  fear 
for  liberty  becomes  only  a  scare,  and  a  scare  at  a 
phantom,  because  that  hand  projected  from  the 
body  has  no  independent  or  authoritative  entity,  its 
whole  existence  being  administrative  under  control. 
Those  who  fear  for  liberty  on  this  basis  manufac- 
ture their  own  alarm  when  they  institute  a  need- 
less extraneous  authority. 

c.  Historically.  It  is  easy  erroneously  to  proclaim 
conclusions  as  historical  when  the  proclaimer  has 
not  surveyed  the  whole  historic  field.  This  easy 
error  has  appeared  in  modern  discussions  of  the 
matters  now  in  hand.  We  hear  it  in  high  places 
that  a  Baptist  church  cannot  delegate  its  authority, 
be  represented,  that  messenger  is  the  only  proper 
title  for  the  brother  who  is  sent  by  a  church  to  an 
Association,  or  anywhere  else,  and  that  these  views 
are  the  old  Baptist  views.  Now  that  is  not 
true.  From  the  time  that  Associations  became 
numerous  enough   to  be  a  basis   for  comparisons. 


I40  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

Baptists  in  all  parts  of  this  country  have  used  the 
words  messenger,  delegate,  and  representative  inter- 
changeably; they  have  instructed  their  messengers 
how  to  act,  and  left  them  free  to  act  on  their  own 
judgment  in  matters  of  importance  to  the  churches ; 
and  they  have  sent  their  messengers  or  delegates  or 
representatives  to  thousands  of  delegated  meetings, 
without  losing  a  scrap  of  their  freedom.  How  have 
they  done  this?  By  writing  into  their  constitutions 
of  combination,  until  one  wearies  with  reading  it, 
that  these  co-operative  bodies  have  no  authority 
over  the  churches.  So  long  as  that  is  done,  reen- 
forced  by  constitutional  limitations  of  fields  of  ac- 
tion, and  the  people  keep  their  eyes  open,  freedom  is 
in  less  danger  than  a  baby  in  its  crib  or  the  sun  in 
its  heavens,  or  anything  between  the  baby  and  the 
sun.  But  the  people  must  keep  their  eyes  open! 
It  would  be  impossible  to  advance  ten  sentences  in 
a  discussion  along  these  lines,  if  the  discussion  were 
worth  anything,  without  repeating  in  substance  what 
has  been  said  again  and  again  by  Baptists  through- 
out the  past  hundred  years. 

d.  Actually.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  every  Baptist 
church  continually  delegates  its  authority  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  its  life,  and  this  it  does  of 
necessity.  It  cannot  live  without  doing  it.  Some 
logicians  solemnly  assure  us  that  a  church  cannot 
delegate  its  authority  because  "  delegated  authority 
cannot  be  delegated,"  and  all  the  authority  the 
church   has   is   delegated  to   it  by  the   Lord  (22). 


DOCTRINAL  I4I 

But  every  preacher  among  these  confident  logicians 
will  go  into  the  pulpit  next  Sunday  and  preach 
by  delegated  authority,  the  authority  of  the  church. 
Then  the  church  will  delegate  the  sexton  to  buy  a 
broom,  without  limiting  the  price.  Moreover,  if 
the  pastor  preaches  error  and  the  church  does  not 
stop  him,  or  if  the  sexton  pays  more  for  the  broom 
than  the  church  approves,  then  the  church  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  heresy  and  must  pay  for  the  broom. 
The  Lord  will  hold  it  responsible  in  the  one  case 
and  the  law  in  the  other,  both  on  the  basis  of 
delegated  authority  delegated.  Now,  if  a  church 
can  and  may  do  these  and  like  things  by  itself,  why 
cannot  two  churches,  or  more  or  many,  delegate 
their  representatives  to  meet  and  act  by  their  au- 
thority, in  a  committee  or  a  convention,  for  doing 
the  Lord's  business  anywhere  and  everywhere,  from 
sweeping  the  meeting-house  to  preaching  and  teach- 
ing to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  with  equal  and  per- 
fect right  and  safety?  (23) 


IX 

PRACTICAL 

Some  things  have  not  yet  been  said  that  perhaps 
ought  to  be  said.  They  have  been  left  out  with  the 
understanding  that  they  could  be  brought  in  more 
appropriately  in  a  group  under  the  caption  "  Prac- 
tical." They  are  suggested  by  the  "  Historical  "  and 
the  "  Doctrinal,"  and  this  treatment  of  them  is  de- 
signed to  be  supplemental  to  the  preceding  pages. 
In  relation  to  what  has  gone  before,  they  are  as- 
sumed to  be  additional,  cautionary,  or  modifying. 

THE    PRACTICAL    PLEA    FOR    THE    POPULAR    BASIS 

Our  discussion  of  the  doctrinal  began  with  the 
recognition  of  democracy  as  the  only  consistent 
Baptist  base.  In  that  connection  the  opinion  was 
recorded  that  control  in  missions  should  be  held 
closely  to  the  people  because  all  the  dignity  and  sanc- 
tity of  discipleship  is  equally  in  all  of  them.  Noth- 
ing was  there  said  of  the  practical  importance  of  this 
close  connection.  But  something  needs  to  be  said, 
because  it  is  impossible  to  hold  the  interest  of  a  free 
and  intelligent  people  permanently  to  a  cause  from 
the  management  of  which  they  are  separated.  This 
is  true  everywhere  in  the  program  of  democracy. 
Even  if  the  people  themselves  set  a  chasm  between 
142 


PRACTICAL  143 

themselves  and  the  administration,  their  interest  in 
it  will  lag.  It  will  lag  along  the  lines  of  both 
conscience  and  intelligence.  This  statement  is  so 
obvious  that  its  defense  seems  unnecessary. 

But  it  may  not  be  unprofitable  to  emphasize  it 
a  little  in  connection  with  the  missionary  cause. 
The  importance  of  the  administrative  recognition 
of  the  people  broadly  and  practically  only  begins  to 
show  itself  in  the  popular  convention,  in  the  right 
to  hold  opinions  and  express  them,  the  opportunity 
also  to  hold  a  check-rein  on  "  officialdom  "  and  make 
the  Board  understand  that  it  is  not  a  "  boss."  That 
part  of  it  is  not  much  more,  though  it  is  some  more, 
than  the  froth  of  it.  The  solid  substance  of  it  is 
behind  that  and  beneath  it.  This  is  true  even  in 
"  a  great  convention  "  unless  its  members  are  care- 
fully culled  from  the  multitude  before  they  are  sent 
to  it.  Two  errors  have  been  quite  common  at  this 
juncture.  One  error  is  that  of  the  many  who 
think  that  they  know  offhand  how  to  manage  as  well 
as  the  few  who  have  been  endowed  by  nature  and 
educated  by  experience  for  that  business.  They  do 
not,  and  they  never  can,  without  a  miracle  in  them 
that  probably  will  not  be  wrought  for  them,  at  least 
till  they  give  more  attention  to  the  business.  The 
other  error  is  that  of  the  managers  who  seem  to 
think  that  they  have  closed  the  discussion  when 
they  have  announced  that  they  understand  the  needs 
and  possibilities  better  than  the  people  do.  Usually 
that  is  true  (24).     Grant  that  more  wisdom  applic- 


144  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

able  to  the  business  of  a  Board  of  Management  may 
sometimes  be  found  under  a  sunbonnet  than  under 
the  silk  hat  of  a  member  of  the  Board;  still,  as  a 
rule,  the  member  is  wiser  and  better  informed  than 
the  sister.  Give  the  managers,  then,  all  the  supe- 
riority in  the  business  of  managing  that  they  may 
reasonably  claim,  and  come  back  to  their  error  when 
they  think  that  they  have  ended  the  discussion  by 
claiming  this  distinction.  They  have  hardly  begun 
it.  It  cannot  be  finished  until  it  is  carried  freely 
and  vigorously  into  the  realms  of  prayer  and  gift. 
It  must  cultivate  the  broadest  fields  of  supplication 
and  stewardship. 

On  the  human  side,  prayer  is  the  vital  breath  of 
missions  in  a  sense  so  significant  that  perhaps  it 
may  be  called  distinctive.  Certainly  not  more  else- 
where than  in  missions  can  the  right  spirit  be 
generated  and  maintained  without  it.  And  here 
in  highest  degree  prayer  is  sacrificial,  intercessory, 
vicarious.  So  far  as  it  advances  toward  perfection 
it  is  absorbed  in  the  atonement  and  abides  close 
by  the  cross  of  Christ.  This  prayer  is  profound, 
patient,  strenuous,  and  serious.  It  repudiates  self- 
gratification  and  retires  into  Gethsemane.  It  shrinks 
from  applause  and  tastes  of  anguish.  The  increase 
of  applause  for  brilliancy  and  wit  in  our  mission- 
ary assemblies,  parallel  with  the  decrease  in  them 
of  this  kind  of  prayer,  relatively,  is  an  outstanding 
and  admonitory  sign.  It  marks  a  decadence  of  that 
quality  of  spirituality  for  which  there  is  no  sub- 


PRACTICAL  145 

stitute  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  As  it  is  lost  out  of 
the  missionary  Hfe  that  Hfe  dies.  How  may  it  be 
retained  and  perfected  ?  By  keeping  intact  the 
closest  connection  between  those  who  pray  and  that 
for  which  they  pray.  What  is  the  line  of  that 
closest  connection  in  the  field  before  us?  It  is 
the  line  of  recognition  of  responsibility.  How  are 
Baptists  to  be  kept  in  the  finest  sense  of  their  re- 
sponsibility for  their  missions?  By  being  kept  in 
the  closest  authoritative  relations  to  them.  For 
such  a  people  as  they  are  and  in  such  atmosphere 
as  they  breathe  to-day,  no  other  prescription  can  be 
compounded  anywhere  in  the  universe.  Others  may 
do  their  kind  of  praying  best  on  some  other  plan, 
but  Baptists  cannot.  "  Missionary  statesmanship  " 
in  council  is  no  more  a  substitute  for  this  than  is 
applause  in  convention.  In  missions  we  have  not 
discussed  democracy  till  we  have  related  it  to  prayer, 
and  prayer  specially  of  this  distinctive  type.  It  is 
the  central  significance  of  the  whole  problem  of  or- 
ganization, the  key  to  the  entire  discussion  of  mis- 
sionary administration.  The  prayer  for  missions 
depends  on  the  realization  of  responsibility  for  them, 
and  this  among  Baptists  finds  its  root  in  the  closest 
possible  connection  of  those  who  pray  with  the  con- 
trol of  that  for  which  they  pray. 

The  connection  between  the  closet  and  the  con- 
tribution is  central  and  continuous.     This  is  true 
commercially  and  spiritually.     The  gage  of  the  giv- 
ing for  missions  is  determined,  both  in  its  finan- 
K 


146  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

cial  figures  and  its  divine  power,  by  the  prayer  of 
the  givers.  It  is  true  Hterally  that  as  people  enter 
through  the  right  kind  of  prayer  into  fellowship 
with  the  mission  cause  they  will  give  more  to  it. 
The  problem  here,  in  "  dollars  and  cents,"  is  not 
first  one  of  apportionments  or  programs  of  any 
kind  or  all  kinds,  but  of  prayer.  All  plans  fall 
short  with  those  who  do  not  pray,  and  those  who 
pray  will  give  anyway,  on  any  plan  or  no  plan  at 
all.  Plans  facilitate,  but  they  do  not  create.  Op- 
portunities solicit  the  smaller  fractions  of  steward- 
ship, but  they  do  not  call  out  the  greater  units  of 
it.  So  long  as  the  agent  or  the  church  must  go  to 
the  giver  in  order  to  get  the  gift,  real  giving  has 
hardly  begun.  When  real  giving  gets  under  way, 
the  giver  will  seek  the  agent  or  the  church  with 
his  gift,  and  he  will  not  be  content  until  he  has  de- 
posited it  in  values  of  respectability  in  the  light  of 
the  cross.  So  far  we  have  thought  of  the  gift  in 
terms  of  human  finance. 

But  more  important  is  right  thinking  in  terms  of 
divine  finance.  When  money  gets  into  relations 
with  the  kingdom  of  God  it  becomes  subject  to 
another  kind  of  calculation,  a  higher  kind,  the 
heavenly  kind.  A  hundred  cents  may  make  a  dol- 
lar or  ten  dollars  or  a  thousand  dollars.  The  dol- 
lars they  make  depends  on  what  God  puts  into 
them.  Without  the  infusion  of  divine  power  they 
may,  though  discreetly  expended,  come  to  little 
or  nothing  in  the  coin  of  the  realm  of  missions, 


PRACTICAL  147 

but  with  every  added  volt  of  divine  power  their 
efficiency  rises  and  rises  until  it  soars  beyond  human 
understanding.  Wlien  Jesus  said  what  he  said 
about  "  the  widow's  mite,"  he  was  not  jesting.  It 
was  not  a  jesting  time  even  if  he  had  been  sometimes 
a  jester,  lie  was  philosophizing,  revealing,  in  the 
shadow  of  the  cross  and  its  light.  He  meant  what 
he  said,  that  she  had  given  more  than  all  the  rich. 
That  was  not  true  in  terms  of  human  commerce,  but 
it  was  true  in  terms  of  divine  compensation.  That 
saying  set  forth  for  all  time  the  truth  that  money 
measures  up  into  multiplications  of  spiritual  effects 
as  God  puts  his  power  into  it,  and  God  puts  his 
power  into  it  on  the  condition  of  the  giver's  fellow- 
ship with  Christ,  expressed  in  self-sacrifice.  That 
is  the  law  of  the  kingdom  concerning  money  for 
missions.  It  ramifies  the  whole  host  of  the  re- 
deemed, and  multiplies  its  proof  of  itself  chiefly 
as  it  works  among  the  givers  of  small  sums  who 
give  as  the  widow  gave.  Herein  may  be  expounded 
the  saying  that  the  rich  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
with  difficulty.  Men  may  applaud  those  whom  they 
call  "  the  large  givers,"  but  God  applauds  those 
whom  he  calls  the  large  givers ;  and  Jesus  left  the 
authoritative  definition  of  this  phrase  lying  loose 
in  the  temple  where  it  may  be  picked  up  by  those 
who  can  take  it.  Therefore,  once  more,  the  system 
of  missionary  organization  that  calls  and  keeps 
those  who  pray  best  nearest  to  the  center  of  ad- 
ministration and  on  the  highest  plane  of  recognition 


148  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED   FOR    MISSIONS 

is  the  system  that,  first  and  last,  secures  the  largest 
contributions  and  of  the  best  kind  for  missions. 
(25). 

THE    LAST    PULL   ON    THE    KNOT 

The  practical  problem  of  how  best  to  connect 
the  contributors  with  the  control  is  always  present. 
Often  for  Baptists  it  has  been  perplexing.  The 
immediate  managers,  being  human,  tend  to  give 
the  people  a  back  seat,  and  the  people,  being  human, 
tend  to  take  the  front  seat  or  leave  the  meeting. 
The  motives  on  both  sides  may  be  various,  and  are 
quite  certain  to  be  mixed.  Therefore  from  this 
source  the  greater  part  of  the  discussion  of  organ- 
ization has  come,  tempting  to  collisions  of  judg- 
ment and  frictions  of  feeling,  reen forced  by  those 
honest  differences  in  perspective  which  have  been 
noted  in  the  historical  and  doctrinal  presentations 
already  completed.  This  confusion  has  been  en- 
hanced by  the  varieties  of  condition  and  environ- 
ment. What  is  best  practicable  in  one  field  may  not 
be  in  another.  The  Baptist  system  and  spirit  re- 
quire flexibility  and  variety.  But  beneath  these,  cer- 
tain permanent  principles  should  be  recognized  as 
regnant  in  all  variations.  Three  at  least  arrest  our 
attention — practicability,  equity,  and  efficiency. 

Missions  stand  as  the  crown  of  the  industrial  sig- 
nificance of  Christianity.  They  mean  business,  and 
they  are  wronged  when  they  are  not  scrutinized 
with  the  business  eye  and  weighed  in  the  balance 


PRACTICAL  149 

of  the  business  judgment.  This  stewardship  is  im- 
perative for  economy  and  facility.  When  an  issue 
appears  between  sentiment  (not  involving  a  law 
or  principle  of  the  Lord  of  the  vineyard)  and  prac- 
tical point,  sentiment  should  be  subordinated.  The 
most  practicable  thing  must  be  done,  the  thing 
which  in  the  largest  view  can  be  got  at  and  got 
through  most  advantageously.  Apply  this  to  the 
basis  of  membership  and  its  implications  in  mis- 
sionary combination. 

Where  the  representation  is  of  churches,  within 
an  area  sufficiently  liinited  to  make  practicable  a 
direct  representation  of  each  church,  the  senti- 
ment favorable  to  such  representation  may  be  given 
full  swing  and  ought  to  be.  Associations  are  cut 
to  the  cloth  of  this  proposition.  They  are  bounded 
in  adjustment  to  the  easy  reach  of  all  the  churches 
composing  them.  The  Associations  are  not  only 
the  first  organizations  after  the  churches  chron- 
ologically, but  also  effectively  as  expressions  of  de- 
mocracy in  all  its  fellowships,  including  the  mis- 
sionary. They  have  served  a  great  purpose  and  done 
it  well.  They  should  be  conserved  and  perfected  in 
the  interest  of  the  largest  local  combinations  of  the 
churches.  When  we  come  to  State  bodies  the  case 
is  not  so  clear,  but  it  grows  clearer  with  the  lapse 
of  time  and  the  multiplication  of  facilities.  At 
the  origin  of  the  State  Conventions  some  States 
were  too  large  for  the  church  basis.  It  was  right 
sentimentally,  but  wrong  practically  on  account  of 


150  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

the  breadth  of  area  and  the  difficulties  of  travel. 
The  wisdom  of  the  "  fathers  "  then  expressed  it- 
self, more  or  less,  in  basing  the  State  bodies  on  the 
Associations  as  the  instruments  of  the  churches. 
This  was  democracy  at  its  best  in  such  situations. 
Swinging  our  observation  beyond  State  areas,  we 
must  begin  to  challenge  the  church  basis  for  the 
same  reason  that  the  earlier  State  Conventions  chal- 
lenged it.  With  every  expansion  it  takes  on  more 
impracticability.  It  ought  not  to  be  used  because 
it  cannot  be  used.  What  the  future  may  hold,  on 
earth  or  in  air,  for  transportation  I  do  not  know. 
The  time  may  come  when  a  traveler  can  cross  the 
continent  as  cheaply  and  as  quickly  as  he  can  now 
cross  Texas  or  Delaware.  But  as  transportation 
now  is,  organization  from  ocean  to  ocean  is  not 
practicable  on  a  church  basis.  It  is  so  impracticable 
that  it  is  in  peril  of  becoming  fantastic.  "  It  is  not 
business."  It  recognizes  a  sentiment  with  which 
this  writer  sympathizes  thoroughly  in  practicable 
applications,  as  it  also  caters  to  the  selfishness  and 
vanity  of  those  who  wish  to  visit  the  neighboring 
city  for  missionary  or  other  purposes,  but  it  is 
ruled  out  on  the  test  of  practicability. 

Equity  reen forces  the  argument  from  practica- 
bility against  church  representation  continentally. 
No  matter  where  the  meeting  is,  the  inequality  is 
always  there  and  cannot  be  avoided.  It  places  a 
special  privilege  within  the  reach  of  a  small  circle 
of  churches  against  the  great  multitude  of  them. 


PRACTICAL  151 

The  special  privilege  may  be  moved  from  place  to 
place,  but  the  moving  does  not  change  its  nature, 
which  is  ine(|uality.  It  is  like  shifting  the  pain  pro- 
duced by  a  disease  from  one  part  of  the  body  to 
another.  The  pain  remains  the  same,  and  its  source 
the  same ;  get  at  the  source,  eradicate  the  disease, 
and  the  pain  is  gone. 

The  foregoing  considerations  are  yet  again 
strengthened  by  the  demand  for  efficiency.  A  con- 
vention in  which  the  great  or  greater  part  is  changed 
from  year  to  year  is  necessarily  inefficient  com- 
paratively, and  this  is  increasingly  so  when  the  new 
members  are  gathered  promiscuously  on  the  basis 
of  local  and  personal  convenience.  Such  an  assem- 
bly must  be  inferior  as  a  deliberative  body.  It  can- 
not handle  the  Lord's  business  with  the  highest 
efficiency.  It  can  and  will  become  the  victim  of 
manipulators  whenever  such  arise,  under  whatever 
motives,  for  it  lacks  ability  to  penetrate  their  de- 
signs or  combine  against  them  when  they  are  known. 
(Some  unanimous  votes  are  not  complimentary  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  voters.)  If  any  one  says 
that  these  considerations  will  never  have  any  ap- 
plication to  a  Baptist  missionary  meeting,  he  therein 
suggests,  or  proclaims,  that  his  knowledge  of  mis- 
sionary Baptists  is  open  to  enlargement. 

This  writing  has  been  moving  toward  the  avowal 
of  a  hope.  The  hope  is  that  that  jumbled  system  of 
representation,  or  playing  at  representation  which 
does  not  represent,  in  large  Baptist  bodies  for  de- 


152  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

liberation  on  the  Lord's  large  business,  may  be  suc- 
ceeded by  a  system  that  shall  contribute  at  once  to 
respectability,  equity,  and  efficiency.  Has  not  the 
time  come  and  is  not  the  intelligence  available  to  get 
on  a  basis  of  uniformity  that  will  shield  decisions 
from  local  gusts,  lift  them  above  reprehensible  in- 
fluences, and  make  them  the  expression  of  the  finest 
intelligence  and  the  loftiest  character  of  the  whole 
denomination,  whose  honor  and  interests  are  in 
their  keeping ;  while  assembling  real  representatives, 
year  by  year,  from  the  closest  contact  with  the 
whole  people?  The  writer  avows  this  hope  and 
will  cherish  it,  grateful  for  present  encouragements 
and  defiant  of  all  disappointments. 

And  may  he  not  venture  suggestions,  on  the  plea 
of  his  sympathy  if  not  his  capacity?  Between  the 
churches  and  the  largest  organizations  it  seems  nec- 
essary to  choose  some  one  intermediate  body  as  the 
swivel  on  which  the  adjustment  and  the  joining  turn. 
What  shall  it  be?  As  things  now  are,  the  choice 
appears  to  lie  between  the  State  Convention  and  the 
Association. 

In  favor  of  the  Convention  two  facts  are  evident. 
One  is  that  a  full  representation,  carefully  chosen 
and  actually  available,  with  but  slight  exception  if 
any,  would  be  morally  certain.  The  other  is,  that  an 
assembly  so  constituted  would  usually  and  eminently 
command  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  con- 
cerned. Against  it  two  objections  arise.  One  is 
that  it  is  too  far  removed  from  the  people,  which 


PRACTICAL  153 

would  tend  to  impair  its  popular  influence  in  ways 
both  legitimate  and  illegitimate.  The  other  is  that 
a  body  so  constituted  is,  in  fact,  more  liable  to  be 
"  packed."  The  evil  flowing  from  this  liability 
would  operate  through  suspicions  even  when  no 
ground  existed  for  them.  Manifestly  a  State-wide 
body  opens  the  way  for  "  rings,"  both  as  specters 
and  realities,  to  such  an  extent  as  to  constitute  a 
genuine  objection  to  this  plan.  But,  to  illustrate  in 
the  use  of  the  most  available  existing  bodies,  sup- 
pose that  the  Southern  Convention  should  be  com- 
posed of  members  named  by  the  tributary  State 
Conventions,  on  an  average  of  thirty  or  more  to 
the  State ;  and  the  Northern  Convention  should  be 
similarly  constituted  on  a  State  delegation  of  about 
half  tiie  number  of  the  other;  what  then  would  we 
have?  We  would  have  two  general  assemblies, 
named  by  the  representatives  of  the  churches, 
through  one  or  more  intermediaries,  of  about  five 
hundred  members  each,  in  a  presumably  equitable 
distribution  throughout  the  brotherhood ;  and  each 
assembly  would  be  qualified  in  a  high  degree  to 
deliberate  with  the  best  wisdom  available  in  its  con- 
stituency. 

In  favor  of  the  Association  two  reasons  appear. 
One  is  that  it  is  as  near  the  whole  people  as  is 
possible  on  a  practicable  and  equitable  basis.  It 
would  most  immediately,  widely,  and  variously  rep- 
resent denominational  thought.  If  then  our  demo- 
cratic propaganda  is  genuine,  if  our  profession  of 


154  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

democracy  is  not  demagoguery,  that  is  a  prime  con- 
sideration. The  other  advantage  in  this  plan  is  that 
the-  members  would  be  freer  to  be  themselves  and 
to  say  what  the  people  wished  them  to  say.  They 
would  carry  a  consciousness  of  immediate  respon- 
sibility at  home  beyond  that  of  the  other  representa- 
tion, and  stand  at  the  same  time  clearer  of  that 
subtle  atmosphere  of  centralization  which  becomes 
more  voluminous  and  vigorous  as  the  appointing 
power  is  itself  more  centralized.  Again  here  two 
objections  are  recognized.  One  is  that  an  assembly 
so  constituted  would  be  inferior  in  general  wisdom, 
learning,  and  dignity,  knowledge  of  the  work  in 
hand,  competency  for  terse  and  pertinent  discussion, 
and  possibly  in  other  particulars.  As  to  the  validity 
of  this  objection  opinions  will  differ.  So  far  as  it 
holds,  is  not  the  judgment  just  that  its  weakness 
would  enfold  a  needed  strength,  that  such  a  body 
would  include  certain  lighter  elements,  if  you  please, 
of  as  much  value  as  some  of  the  heavier,  and  that 
in  the  aggregate  no  loss  would  ensue  to  discussion? 
The  other  objection  to  this  plan  is  that  it  is  im- 
practicable. The  Associations  will  not  respond ;  we 
will  have  a  widely  distributed  representation  in 
theory  only,  and  practically  be  no  better  off  than 
on  the  confused  and  inequitable  methods  that  still 
prevail.  To  meet  this  objection,  consider  several 
things.  First,  this  method  has  never  been  given  a 
fair  trial  under  the  present  favorable  conditions. 
The  Association  has  been  and  is  recognized  limit- 


PRACTICAL  155 

edly,  but  so  overshadowed  by  other  elements  as  to 
discourage  it.  Secondly,  the  only  way  to  give  it  a 
fair  trial  is  to  give  it  the  whole  tield,  put  it  on  its 
metal  by  putting  the  whole  responsibility  on  it. 
Thirdly,  widen  the  way  for  it.  Give  it  a  generous 
proxy  privilege.  Make  it  possible  for  two  or  more 
Associations  to  unite  their  representation  in  one 
representative,  with  full  voting  privilege,  accept 
credentials  on  the  wire,  or  the  wireless,  when  neces- 
sary. Put  the  whole  on  a  twentieth-century  basis 
for  business,  and  see  if  the  Associations  will  not 
come.  Now,  suppose  that  the  two  great  missionary 
Conventions  should  be  composed  of  members  com- 
missioned in  this  way  exclusively,  on  a  scale  to 
bring  into  each  of  them  a  thousand  or  more  chosen 
as  nearly  as  possible  by  the  people  themselves  in  a 
multitude  of  local  centers,  what  would  we  have? 
A  larger  assembly,  but  not  unwieldy,  highly  com- 
petent, and  preeminently  able  to  hold  the  whole 
people  to  whatever  it  might  propose,  with  a  con- 
stancy and  a  sympathy  probably  impossible  in  any 
other  way.    Would  we  not  ? 

THE    IDEAL   DELINEATED 

The  ideal  is  this :  A  convention  composed  entirely 
of  representatives  chosen  by  the  Associations  that 
are  in  sympathy  and  co-operation  with  the  work 
which  the  convention  is  to  direct.  The  representa- 
tion is  to  be  on  a  basis  of  equality  throughout  the 
whole  constituency.    This  excludes  all  individual  or 


156  BAPTISTS    MOBILIZED    FOR    MISSIONS 

official  or  other  special  membership  privileges ;  it 
being  held  that  while  the  sentiment  that  would 
honor  missionaries,  officials,  or  any  others  worthy  of 
honor,  but  whose  personal  interests  are  involved  in 
the  actions  of  the  convention,  is  excellent,  it  is 
not  available  in  this  connection.  Let  them  be 
honored  in  other  ways,  and  let  them  be  heard  so 
far  as  the  business  calls  for  such  hearing,  as  others 
are.  But  this  convention  is  for  deliberation  and  ac- 
tion on  the  business  as  authorized  by  those  to  whom 
the  business  belongs.  It  has  no  right  to  do  anything 
in  any  other  capacity,  as  it  has  no  right  to  conceal 
anything  it  does  from  its  principal,  the  people.  It 
may  arrange  mass  meetings  for  the  popular  pro- 
motion of  missions,  perhaps ;  but  all  such  should 
be  distinct  from  its  sessions  for  business.  It  should 
give  all  the  time  necessary  to  the  full  consideration 
of  the  business,  and  none  should  be  sent  to  its  sit- 
tings who  will  not  do  that.  Better  ten  Associa- 
tions unite  on  one  representative,  competent  and 
faithful,  who  may  speak  and  vote  for  them  all. 

The  mixed  method,  by  which  one  individual  or 
church  or  society  comes  in  on  one  line  of  authoriza- 
tion and  another  on  two  or  more,  has  been  produced 
and  maintained  usually  by  compromises  between 
partial  and  local  preferences  and  prejudices.  Are 
we  not  almost  sufficiently  mature  to  disregard  and 
discharge  all  these  in  order  to  secure  a  system  at 
once  equitable  at  the  base,  symmetrical  in  the  super- 
structure, and  efficient  in  the  administration? 


NOTES 


(i)  The  central,  if  not  the  sole,  intention  of  the  Hud- 
son River  Association  in  its  call  for  a  convention  "  for 
general  purposes  "  is  clearly  indicated  in  its  correspond- 
ing letter  to  other  Associations,  in  which  it  says:  "  There 
is  one  object  of  great  importance  that  we  ardently  de- 
sire to  see  accomplished,  and  which  we  would  recom- 
mend to  your  serious  and  prayerful  consideration, 
namely,  The  formation  of  a  Domestic  Missionary  So- 
ciety, which  shall  embrace  our  whole  denomination  in 
every  State  of  the  Union." — Page  23. 

(2)  Although  the  Triennial  Convention  at  its  origin 
excluded  the  individual  membership,  we  may  be  sure 
that  that  change  from  the  formerly  common  method 
was  not  wholly  approved.  Intimation  in  this  direction 
comes  in  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "  The  Constitution  of  the 
American  Baptist  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel, 
established  January  i,  1817."  This  Society  was  founded 
by  some  reputable  Baptists  of  Philadelphia  and  vicinity, 
at  Great  Valley,  Pa.  The  chairman  of  the  meeting  was 
H.  G.  Jones,  pastor  at  Lower  Merion,  an  eminent  de- 
nominational leader,  who  was  a  founder  of  the  Trien- 
nial, one  of  its  Board  of  Commissioners  from  the  first, 
becoming  recording  secretary  of  that  Board  in  1817. 
The  secretary  was  Thomas  Roberts,  pastor  of  the  Great 
Valley  Church,  member  of  the  Triennial's  Board  a  few 
months  later,  and  leader  of  a  company  of  missionaries 
who  went  under  its  appointment  in  1821  to  the  south- 
ern Indians.  The  preacher  of  the  sermon  was  John  M. 
Peck,    then   a    student    in    Philadelphia,    though    having 


158  NOTES 

been  in  the  pastorate  for  several  years  previously,  and 
who  was  appointed  by  the  Triennial  Board  in  the  May 
following  its  missionary  to  the  West.  That  these  men 
should  start  another  general  missionary  society  on  the 
ground  of  the  Triennial  at  that  date  raises  questions. 
The  points  in  their  constitution  differing  from  that  of 
the  older  organization  may  answer  some  of  the  ques- 
tions. It  provides  for  admission  of  "  all  who  love  the 
Redeemer  of  every  denomination,"  but  it  makes  the 
Baptist  control  distinctly  evident.  It  provides  for  the 
rejection  of  any  society  as  auxiliary  for  any  reason,  and 
for  the  exclusion  of  any  individual  member  on  grounds 
of  heresy  or  immorality,  or  any  other  "  impropriety,"  as 
judged  by  the  Society  or  its  Board. 

The  terms  of  admission  when  compared  with  those 
of  the  Triennial  were  very  low.  Any  Baptist  church  or 
society  needed  to  contribute  only  five  dollars  for  one 
annual  representative,  with  increasing  sums  for  addi- 
tional representatives.  Any  approved  individual  could 
be  an  annual  member  for  four  dollars,  a  life-member 
for  fifty  and  a  life-director  for  one  hundred.  But  three- 
fourths  of  the  managers  must  be  Baptists.  Honorary 
members  without  votes  were  provided  for. 

Provision  was  made  for  representation  in  "  any  other 
public  body;  more  especially  the  General  Convention  of 
the  Baptist  denomination  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica for  foreign  missions."  This  shows  cordiality  to- 
ward the  Triennial,  and  may  indicate  a  disposition  to  do 
all  foreign  mission  work  through  it.  The  leading  ob- 
jects of  the  new  organization  were  "  to  bring  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Saviour  to  a  nearer  knowledge  and  union 
with  each  other";  to  lead  Baptists  "not  only  to  a  mu- 
tual acquaintance  and  fellowship  with  one  another,  but 
to  concentrate  all  their  efforts,  like  a  glorious  phalanx, 
under  the  banners  of  the  gospel;  to  promote  acts  of 
beneficence   and   good   will,   and   to  disseminate   every- 


NOTES  159 

thing  good  and  excellent  among  their  fellow-men  ";  to 
promote  missions  and  lay  a  foundation  of  a  fund  for 
ministerial  education.  It  was  also  provided  that  any 
money  remaining  unused  at  any  annual  meeting  should 
go  into  a  permanent  fund,  "  the  principal  and  interest  of 
which  shall  be  left  to  accumulate  until  it  shall  amount 
to  twenty  thousand  dollars,"  after  which  the  income 
was  to  be  used  at  the  discretion  of  the  Board. 

The  points  in  which  this  program  differed  from  that 
of  the  Triennial  Convention  were:  Membership  other 
than  Baptist;  easier  financial  conditions  of  membership; 
the  accumulation  of  a  permanent  fund;  and  in  letter 
but  not  in  spirit  and  intention,  ministerial  education 
and  home  missions.  Both  of  these  last  were  taken  up 
by  the  other  body  at  its  triennial  meeting  in  the  May 
following,  toward  which  this  new  Society  may  have 
contributed;  and  the  presumption  is  that  that  course 
on  its  part  so  far  reduced  the  discontent  with  it,  that 
the  new  organization  lost  some  of  its  significance  to 
its  supporters  and  dwindled  away  from  lack  of  sup- 
port. It  had  provided  for  its  second  annual  meeting  at 
Lower  Merion,  Pa.,  but  so  far  as  I  know  it  never  met 
again.  Although  the  three  men  most  prominent  at  its 
birth  have  found  large  place  in  Baptist  records,  this 
Society  seems  to  have  no  recognition  in  any  of  them. 
Its  significance  is  in  its  voicing  certain  missionary  con- 
ceptions not  formally  expressed  in  the  Triennial,  and 
not  at  that  date  recognized  practically  by  it.  This 
"  American  Baptist  Society  "  was  the  first  Baptist  mis- 
sionary' organization  in  America  that  combined  the  in- 
dividual and  the  organization  constituenc\-  and  that 
proposed  a  permanent  fund. — Page  25. 

(3)  The  method  of  securing  a  large  number  of  mem- 
bers at  first  is  explained  by  Doctor  Stow:  "Our  object 
was  to  create  at  once  a  body  that  could  organize  and 


l6o  NOTES 

proceed  to  business,  and  we  could  think  of  no  other  plan 
so  feasible  and  which  would  conciliate  good  feeling  on 
the  part  of  such  as  might  be  at  the  trouble  and  expense 
of  attending  an  extra  session.  We  do  not,  however,  at- 
tach much  importance  to  that  item.  It  appeared  to  us 
a  happy  mode  for  the  transmigration  of  the  soul  from 
one  body  to  another "  ("  Memoir  of  Baron  Stow, 
D.  D.,"  p.  210).  But  others  took  it  more  seriously. 
Doctor  Sharp  cited  it  as  one  of  his  reasons  for  dissatis- 
faction with  the  plan,  making  hundreds  of  life-members, 
autocratic  and  unalterable,  dependent  on  the  incident 
of  being  present  at  a  given  time  ("  The  Christian  Re- 
flector," November  19,  1846). — Page  28. 

(4)  Writing  in  protest  against  a  published  statement, 
giving  the  impression  that  he  claimed  to  have  been  the 
sole  author  of  the  constitution  of  the  Missionary  Union, 
Doctor  Stow  explained:  "  I  stated  that  I  knew  the 
meaning  of  every  word  and  syllable  of  the  constitution, 
as  I  had  transcribed  it  seven  times,  and  spent  weeks  of 
labor  and  prayer  in  its  preparation.  .  .  The  outlines  of 
the  constitution  were  agreed  upon  by  the  four  New 
England  members  of  the  committee,  and  the  labor  of 
preparing  the  instrument  was  committed  to  me."  This 
statement  need  not  be  taken  inharmoniously  with  the 
position  ascribed  to  Doctor  Wayland  in  the  text.  He 
was  appointed  to  draft  a  constitution,  and  Doctor 
Stow's  statement  relates  to  his  own  work  as  scribe 
in  trying  to  harmonize  the  two  constitutions  and  formu- 
late the  conclusions  of  the  New  England  part  of  the 
committee,  but  the  outline  on  which  the  four  members 
agreed  was  that  of  Doctor  Wayland. — Page  30. 

(5)  Dr.  Daniel  Sharp  was  the  most  distinguished  mis- 
sionary leader  among  the  Baptists  of  Boston  at  this  time, 
though  partly  retiring  from  activity  because  of  his  age. 


NOTES  l6l 

It  is  a  safe  assumption  that  he  was  consulted  during  the 
discussion  of  the  constitution.  Being  requested,  after 
its  adoption,  by  the  New  York  correspondent  quoted 
elsewhere,  and  others,  to  express  his  views,  he  wrote  a 
letter  for  publication,  addressed  to  the  New  Yorker. 
Replying  to  his  correspondent's  assurance  that  there 
was  much  dissatisfaction  with  the  constitution,  he  said: 
"  I  am  glad  there  is.  I  never  approved  of  it.  Had  my 
opinion  been  regarded  it  would  never  have  been 
adopted.  I  would  have  opposed  it  publicly  and  strenu- 
ously but  for  my  peculiar  position.  I  was  apprehensive 
that  if  I  took  part  against  it  my  motives  would  be 
misunderstood.  Having  resolved  to  withdraw  from  all 
share  in  the  management  of  foreign  missions,  I  also 
resolved  to  leave  the  new  organization  to  those  who 
favored  the  experiment,  and  stood  ready  to  regulate  the 
working  of  the  new  machinery.  Having,  however,  been 
frequently  urged  to  make  known  my  views,  I  feel  that 
I  may,  without  impropriety,  break  the  silence  which  on 
this  subject  I  had  intended  to  keep."  He  mentions  four 
objections  to  the  constitution,  three  of  which  relate  to 
constituency.  First,  he  doubts  the  wisdom  of  life- 
members  on  the  payment  of  one  hundred  dollars,  or  on 
any  terms.  He  says:  "A  permanent  power  is  given 
them  more  important  than  the  value  received.  Who 
knows  whether,  hereafter,  these  life-members  will  be 
missionary  or  anti-missionary  men?"  His  second  ob- 
jection is  that  it  places  the  members  of  the  Union,  and 
through  them  its  Executive  Committee,  too  much  above 
and  beyond  the  influence  of  Christian  churches.  .  .  The 
churches  who  raised  the  funds  should,  by  their  dele- 
gates, have  a  voice  in  choosing  the  committee  to  whom 
the  affairs  of  the  missions  are  intrusted."  In  the  third 
place,  he  protests  against  the  method  of  making  the 
first  life-members,  as  mentioned  in  a  previous  note. 
Opposition  to  the  constitution,  with  attempts  to  amend 
L 


1 62  NOTES 

it,  appeared  on  the  floor  at  the  time  of  its  adoption,  in  at 
least  these  particulars:  (i)  The  word  American  in  the 
title  as  too  broad.  (2)  Terms  of  life-membership  too 
liberal,  liable  to  admit  the  heterodox,  the  immoral,  and 
slave-holders;  also  too  cheap.  (3)  Opens  the  way  to 
local  control  or  excessive  influence.  (4)  Too  aristo- 
cratic, some  thinking  it  "  high  time  that  the  voice  of  the 
common  people  was  heard  in  these  conventions,"  and 
wanting  the  churches  recognized. — Page  31. 

(6)  On  January  30,  1846,  Doctor  Stow  wrote  to  Mr. 
Cone:  "  Ever  since  that  blessed  meeting  of  the  General 
Convention,  in  November  last,  I  have  intended  to  write 
to  you,  tendering  my  personal  thanks  for  the  noble 
part  which  you  acted  on  that  occasion.  Knowing  fully, 
as  I  did,  your  views  and  feelings  on  various  points,  I 
regard  your  course  with  admiration  and  almost  wonder. 
A  richer  spectacle  of  Christian  magnanimity  I  have 
never  witnessed.  Pardon  the  freedom  with  which  I 
write.  My  heart  guides  my  pen.  I  shall  ever  associate 
that  precious  occasion  with  the  grace  of  God  bestowed 
upon  yourself  as  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Nine"  ("  Memoir  of  Baron  Stow,  D.  D.,"  p.  211). 

Later  Doctor  Stow  wrote  at  some  length  for  the 
memorial  of  Mr.  Cone,  in  which  he  used  these  words: 
"  It  is  due  to  Mr.  Cone  to  say  that  he  was  in  favor  of 
a  more  simple  organization,  as  better  suited  to  the 
genius  of  the  denomination.  .  .  Concessions  were  made 
on  all  sides,  but  it  was  plain  to  all  that  the  greatest 
were  made  by  Mr.  Cone.  The  next  day  the  constitution 
was  reported  as  the  unanimous  product  of  the  commit- 
tee. Mr.  Cone  made  the  requisite  explanations,  and 
defended  every  article  and  every  provision  as  earnestly 
as  if  the  entire  instrument  had  been  his  own  favorite 
offspring.  The  committee,  knowing  his  preference  for 
something  different,  were  filled  with  admiration  at  the 


NOTES  163 

Christian     magnanimity     which     he     there     exhibited " 
("Life  of  Rev.  Spencer  H.  Cone,"  p.  311). 

In  1855  Doctor  Wayland  wrote  to  Mr.  Cone's  sons, 
for  use  in  the  "Life":  "When  the  draft  was  agreed 
upon  the  duty  of  advocating  it  in  the  public  debate 
was,  by  common  consent,  assigned  to  him.  Of  the 
manner  in  which  he  performed  this  service  there  has 
never  been  but  one  opinion.  I  have  frequently  heard 
it  remarked  that  no  man  in  our  country,  of  any  pro- 
fession, could  have  done  it  so  well.  In  all  the  discus- 
sions he  exhibited  great  readiness  and  acuteness,  with 
perfect  knowledge  of  his  subject  and  his  audience,  en- 
forcing his  views  with  an  irresistible  eloquence,  which 
carried  the  final  vote  without,  I  believe,  a  single  dissent- 
ing voice.  The  adoption  of  that  constitution  was  owing 
more  to  your  father's  efforts  than  to  those  of  all  the 
rest  of  us  put  together.  Without  him  I  do  not  believe 
that  it  could  have  been  carried  ''  ("  Life  of  Rev.  Spencer 
H.  Cone,"  pp.  479,  480). — Page  32. 

(7)  Whoever  may  dislike  Doctor  Wayland's  work  at 
this  juncture  should,  however,  not  judge  him  harshly  or 
hastily.  If  he  is  to  be  judged  at  all,  it  should  be  by 
those  who  can  see  his  problem  from  his  position.  He 
had  been  closely  and  prominently  associated  with  the 
Triennial  Convention  for  fully  twenty  years,  having 
been  regarded  by  good  judges  as  its  most  influential 
member  as  early  as  1826.  His  sympathy  with  foreign 
missions  was  profound  and  intense.  His  jealousy  for 
the  decorum  and  respectability  in  righteousness  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  was  the  same.  The  Triennial  had 
been  the  scene  of  exhibitions  that  distressed  and  hu- 
miliated him.  Now  that  slavery  had  been  eliminated 
as  the  chief  source  of  confusion  and  discord,  in  a  rea- 
sonable view  of  the  situation,  though  some  of  its  more 
vehement  antagonists  were  seeking  to  give  it  an  irrele- 


164  NOTES 

vant  recognition  in  the  Missionary  Union,  he  was  pe- 
culiarly concerned  to  devise  an  organization  that  would 
secure  the  exclusion  of  it  and  all  other  alien  topics,  and 
guarantee  respectable  procedure  and  effective  adminis- 
tration. Personally  he  was  considerably  an  aristocrat, 
dignified,  reserved,  exacting.  His  experience  as  an 
educator  had  cultivated  these  constitutional  proclivities. 
He  had  reached  that  age  at  which  strong  men  are  some- 
times most  prone  to  assume  authority  over  their  asso- 
ciates, and  he  naturally  somewhat  transferred  his  esti- 
mates of  the  campus  to  the  convention.  Therefore  he 
so  desired  to  prevent  untimely  agitations  and  unseemly 
exhibitions,  "  popular  irruptions,"  that  that  desire  domi- 
nated his  influence  in  this  connection. 

It  should  also  be  remembered,  that  doubtless  he  had 
already  become  settled  in  those  views  of  church  repre- 
sentation which  a  few  years  later  were  widely  published, 
which  views  strengthened  his  desire  to  prevent  the  di- 
rect representation  of  the  churches  in  the  Union.  His 
device  fitted  in  all  around,  gave  the  churches  a  quasi 
representation  in  part  through  the  life-members  whom 
they  named,  but  deprived  them  of  all  actual,  manage- 
able representation. — Page  33. 

(8)  On  the  floor  of  the  Convention  two  honored  mis- 
sionaries, temporarily  at  home,  spoke.  Mr.  Abbott,  of 
Arracan,  said:  "  I  arrived  on  my  native  shores  on  Fri- 
day last,  and  almost  the  first  thing  I  heard  was  that  it 
was  a  time  of  great  declension;  that  the  South  had  filed 
off  and  formed  a  new  Convention;  that  a  similar  move- 
ment was  contemplated  in  the  North;  that  the  brethren 
would  probably  come  together  under  excited  feelings, 
and  that  there  would  be  conflicting  interests,  much 
clashing  of  sentiment,  and  not  a  little  quarreling.  Old, 
gray-headed  men  shook  their  heads,  and  feared  for  the 
stability  of  the  mission  interests." 


NOTES  165 

Mr.    Kincaid,    of    Burma,    said:    "For   several    weeks 
past,   some   six   or   eight  perhaps,    I    have   been   almost 
constantly  traveling  [in  Vermont,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  New  Jersey].     I  found  a  large  number  of  our 
wisest  and  most  prudent  and  experienced  men   fearing 
the  worst;      .  for  the  most  part  they  seemed  to  indulge 
but  gloomy  anticipations"  ("  H.  K,"  in  "The  Baptist" 
Nashville,  Tenn..  January   17.   1846).     These  men   testi- 
fied   that    the    spirit    of    the    meeting    had    completely 
changed  their  impressions.     A  glimpse  into  that  spirit, 
as  manifested  on   the  unanimous  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution, is  given  by  John  M.  Peck  in  a  letter  appear- 
ing in  "  The   Baptist."  of  Nashville.  December  6,   1845. 
He  wrote:  "The  tears  started  in  the  eyes  of  the  presi- 
dent.   Doctor    Wayland,    and    his    voice    was    unusually 
tremulous  as  he  announced  the  decision.     Doctor  Cone 
burst    outright    with    audible    sobbing.  .  .  Never    did    I 
witness  such  a  scene:  never  do  I  expect  to  witness  the 
like  again  on  earth." — Page  34. 

(9)  Following  the  meeting  of  the  New  York  Baptist 
State  Convention,  in  1846.  a  "respectable  minister  in 
one  of  the  flourishing  cities  "  of  that  State,  wrote  Doc- 
tor Sharp  an  anxious  letter,  in  which  he  said:  "I  sup- 
pose you  are  aware  that  there  is  considerable  dissatis- 
faction with  the  third  article  of  the  constitution.  And 
It  prevails  among  those  who  have  been  and  still  are 
among  the  foremo.st  friends  and  supporters  of  missions. 
They  think  that  we  cannot  do  better  than  adhere  to  the 
old  democratic  principle  of  representation."  He  reported 
that,  on  the  day  preceding  the  State  Convention,  a  mis- 
sionary meeting  was  held,  at  the  close  of  which  the 
meeting,  including  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
ministers,  voted  unanimously  a  request  that  the  Board 
of  the  Union  at  its  next  meeting  recommend  such 
change  as  will  admit   to  representation  any  church   or 


1 66  NOTES 

Other  religious  body  of  the  Baptist  denomination. 
Another  reporter  said  this  action  was  taken  without 
discussion.  (Alfred  Bennett  preached  to  that  meeting, 
and  ninety  life-members  of  the  State  Convention,  who 
were  present  at  its  meeting  which  began  the  next  day, 
were  probably  well  represented  in  the  missionary  meet- 
ing.) The  correspondent  of  Doctor  Sharp  further  said 
that  this  question  involved  "  the  union  and  peace  of  the 
denomination  in  the  great  work  of  missions,"  and  "  if 
the  representative  principle  should  not  be  introduced 
into  the  constitution  next  spring  I  tremble  at  the  con- 
sequences. My  own  opinion  is  that  a  large  number 
of  ministers  and  churches  will  cease  to  co-operate  with 
the  Union.  I  do  not  say  that  I  should,  but  I  am  confi- 
dent that  others  will  "  ("  Christian  Reflector,"  Novem- 
ber 19,  1846). — Page  34. 

(10)  The  records  as  published  seem  to  be  incomplete 
at  this  point.  The  features  added  and  credited  to  a  re- 
porter are  from  the  report  of  the  meeting  in  the  "  Bap- 
tist Memorial,"  June,  1846,  p.  191.  The  claim  of  un- 
constitutionality seems  to  have  been  well  made,  based 
on  the  last  article  of  the  constitution,  which  provided 
that  ''  alterations  may  be  made  in  this  constitution  only 
upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Board  of  Managers." 
This  gave  the  Board  absolute  control  over  such  action. 
The  Union  at  first  rejected  Bennett's  resolution  en- 
tirely, but  on  reconsideration  recognized  it  so  far  as 
to  refer  it  to  the  Board. 

It  should  perhaps  be  said  in  this  connection,  in  fair- 
ness to  Mr.  Bennett,  that  whatever  satisfaction  he  may 
have  expressed  at  that  time  with  the  constitution, 
should  be  taken  with  some  modification.  As  suggested 
in  the  preceding  note,  he  really  did  not  like  the  con- 
stitution, but  was  not  disposed  to  begin  amending  it 
immediately.     The   speech   of   Sheardown,   of   Pennsyl- 


NOTES  167 

vania,  is  reported  as  opposing  the  amendment,  but  was 
introduced  by  an  expression  of  regret  that  the  constitu- 
tion was  such  as  it  was,  and  probably  a  majority  of  the 
Union  at  that  hour  were  dissatisfied  with  the  autocracy 
of  the  organization  but  satisfied  to  let  it  alone  for  the 
time  being. — Page  35. 

(11)  The  reasons  presented  in  favor  of  amending  the 
constitution,  as  summarized  by  the  Committee  of  Nine, 
were  three:  (i)  The  life-membership  is  an  innovation. 
Does  it  not  tend  to  a  "religious  aristocracy"?  The 
life-members  may  become  so  unworthy  as  to  be 
"  blotted  by  a  righteous  indignation  from  the  church 
books,"  but  here  they  remain  "  ineffaceable."  Or  they 
may  never  have  been  church-members,  may  be  "  profli- 
gate and  blasphemous."  Even  if  they  are  tolerated,  is 
it  not  better  to  have  an  annual  representation  of  dif- 
ferent character  to  offset  them?  (2)  "The  missionary 
work  is  properly  the  work  of  the  churches,  the  task  be- 
longs to  them,  the  spiritual  Israel,  that  should  not  share 
it  with  the  '  Philistine  and  the  Canaanite.'  "  Make  not 
only  the  officers  and  missionaries  Baptist,  but  the  whole 
control.  (3)  To  have  a  missionary  movement  like  that 
of  the  early  times  we  must  model  it  after  those  times, 
"  slope  at  least  .  .  .  toward  a  better  and  more  primitive 
state  of  things,  when  each  of  our  churches  shall  sustain 
its  foreign  missionary  as  well  as  its  pastor." — Page  35. 

(12)  The  Union  took  no  action.  The  Board  consulted 
members  of  the  Union  only.  So  far  as  appears,  neither 
executed  the  recommendation  of  the  committee,  unless 
the  only  "  honest  friends  of  missions  in  the  churches  " 
were  the  life-members  of  the  Union. — Page  36. 

(13)  At  this  meeting  Doctor  Herron,  senior  pastor  of 
a    Presbyterian    church,    which    had    kindly    opened    its 


1 68  NOTES 

house  for  the  use  of  the  Union,  was  made  a  life-mem- 
ber on  an  appropriation  from  funds  secured  at  the 
meeting.  This  leaves  the  situation  with  a  Baptist  in- 
dividual or  church,  or  other  body,  unable  to  secure  an 
annual  membership  on  any  terms,  while  a  Presbyterian 
is  admitted  for  life,  without  making  application,  on 
funds  contributed  by  the  Union  itself. — Page  39. 

(14)  In  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Nine,  a  year 
earlier  than  this,  and  on  whose  recommendation  this 
investigation  was  instituted,  its  understanding  of  the 
sentiment  of  the  people  in  the  churches  was  given,  and 
is  here  summarized.  In  the  Middle  States,  and  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  New  England,  ''  the  great  majority 
of  the  churches  probably  prefer,  for  the  present  at  least, 
the  retention  unchanged  of  the  existing  basis."  In 
Connecticut,  Maine,  Michigan,  portions  of  Ohio,  and  in 
western  New  York,  "  large  numbers  "  probably  prefer 
annual  membership  in  whole  or  in  part.  The  Connecti- 
cut State  Convention  acted  favoring  the  annual  system 
on  fifty  dollars.  In  Ohio  one  Association  had  called  for 
annuals  exclusively,  and  two  for  them  in  connection 
with  life-members.  The  Convention  of  this  State  voted 
for  representation.  The  Michigan  State  Convention, 
with  but  one  dissenting  vote,  called  for  admission  of 
annual  members.  At  a  meeting  in  Le  Roy,  N.  Y., 
"  several  valued  members  voted  "  for  annual  representa- 
tion of  contributors,  not  "  churches  as  such,"  but  the 
latter  was  the  general  desire. — Page  39. 

(15)  The  reader  can  readily  see  the  wide  difference 
between  the  constitution  of  1846  and  that  of  1861  in 
relation  to  constituency  and  control.  The  fifteen  years 
between  these  two  dates  had  been  a  period  of  substan- 
tially continuous  attempt  to  break  down  the  wall  that 
had  been   set   up   between   the   people   who   were  most 


NOTES  169 

deeply  interested  in  missions  and  the  management  of 
the  missions  in  which  they  were  interested.  It  was  true 
that  any  contributor  of  one  hundred  dollars,  whether 
individual  or  collective,  could  have  an  indirect  or  nomi- 
nal representation  in  the  management  through  a  life- 
member.  This  representation,  however,  was  not  only 
defective  but  precarious.  With  this  many  were  not 
satisfied.  The  agitation,  started  immediately  after  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution  and  the  passing  of  the 
special  conditions  of  anxiety  and  emotion  then  preva- 
lent, was  not  ephemeral.  It  was  persistent  and,  though 
thrown  back  repeatedly,  still  persisted  in  some  form 
until  after  fifteen  years  it  overrode  the  resistance  and 
swept  the  obstruction  out  of  the  way.  Necessarily  this 
contest  was  hurtful  to  the  mission  cause,  and  must  bear 
its  part  of  the  responsibility  for  the  unhappy  condition 
into  which  the  whole  enterprise  fell.  Without  attempt- 
ing to  distribute  the  responsibility,  we  are  compelled  to 
recognize  that  in  these  years  the  work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions, as  represented  in  the  Missionary  Union,  had 
fallen  into  a  very  unhappy  condition.  Deep  concern  for 
its  future  was  widespread  among  its  warmest  friends 
and  most  judicious  supporters.  In  the  years  just  im- 
mediately preceding  the  culmination  of  the  campaign 
for  change  in  the  constitution,  two  pamphlets  appeared 
that  illuminate  the  scene  from  opposite  sides.  Their 
authors  were  representative  men,  William  Crowell  and 
Francis  Wayland.  Neither  of  these  publications  ever 
passed  the  pamphlet  stage,  and  they  are  therefore  com- 
paratively unknown.  This  seems  to  justify  the  follow- 
ing use  of  them. 

Rev.  William  Crowell  issued  his  "  Church-members' 
Manual  "  in  1847,  based  partly  on  a  manuscript  of 
Professor  Knowles,  and  in  consultation  with  Doctors 
Ripley,  Sears,  Sharp,  and  Stow.  So  far  as  the  author 
knew,  it  was  "  the  first  attempt  to  exhibit  the  Baptist 


170  NOTES 

church  polity  in  systematic  order."  The  second  edi- 
tion of  it  appeared  in  1852.  In  these  years,  covering 
partly  the  period  of  the  contest  with  which  our  text  is 
concerned,  the  author  held  a  conspicuous  place  as  a 
teacher  of  Baptist  polity.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising 
that  in  1859,  eighteen  prominent  Baptists  of  New  York 
called  Mr.  Crowell  out  to  give  what  light  he  could  on 
the  agitation  then  culminating.  They  were  pastors  and 
others;  among  the  pastors,  William  Hague,  B.  T.  Welch, 
Pharcellus  Church,  and  A.  H.  Burlingham.  They  asked 
him  to  discuss  missionary  organizations  of  American 
Baptists  with  reference  to  the  then  current  discussion, 
either  in  an  address  to  an  audience  that  they  would  con- 
vene, or  in  a  letter  to  them  for  public  use.  He  chose 
the  letter,  which  was  dated  May  4,  1859.  His  discussion 
was  comprehensive,  but  we  now  need  only  one  feature 
of  it.  Having  related  how  the  Triennial  Convention  had 
arisen  and  fallen,  he  proceeded:  "  Next  came  the  ex- 
pedient to  remedy  the  error  with  human  wisdom,  bor- 
rowed from  '  the  denominations,'  and  the  constitution 
of  the  Missionary  Union,  with  its  exclusive  life-mem- 
berships and  its  complicated  '  breakwaters,'  came  forth, 
like  Minerva  from  the  head  of  Jupiter.  No  man  could 
suppose  for  a  moment  that  such  a  thing  was  the  out- 
growth of  Baptist  principles.  How  it  came  upon  us, 
unless  as  a  judicial  visitation  for  our  sins,  it  is  difficult 
to  tell.  Constituted  as  if  for  eternal  duration  and 
growth,  a  few  years  have  produced  a  general  conviction 
that  it  is  unscriptural,  un-Baptistic,  not  longer  to  be 
borne  than  it  can  safely  be  got  rid  of.  Its  history  has 
been  in  singular  contrast  to  its  name,  for  disunion  has 
marked  its  progress  at  every  step." 

Doctor  Wayland's  pamphlet  appeared  in  the  same 
year  with  Mr.  Crowell's.  It  does  not  show  any  evidence 
of  having  been  asked  for  by  any  one.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  voluntary  expression  of  its  author's  solicitude. 


NOTES  171 

It  is  extremely  pessimistic,  opening  with  a  dark  de- 
lineation of  the  situation,  with  this  outcome,  ''  At  this 
rate  our  missions  will  soon  cease  altogether."  He 
makes  a  quite  elaborate  effort  to  indicate  remedies. 
The  substance  of  it  is  that  missionary  organization 
should  be  localized  as  much  as  possible.  The  church  is 
recognized  as  the  normal  missionary  organization,  and 
individual  churches  should  send  out  their  own  mission- 
aries. Beyond  this  his  thought  rallies  on  the  Associa- 
tion and  other  local  combinations  of  churches.  "  If  this 
could  be  accomplished  we  should  be  at  once  relieved 
from  all  the  machinery  of  Boards,  committees,  secre- 
taries, treasurers,  and  agents,  inasmuch  as  every  church, 
or  cluster  of  churches,  could  be  all  this  to  itself."  Turn- 
ing to  home  missions,  he  said:  "  Here  we  seem  to  need 
some  central  arrangement  that  shall  be  the  medium  of 
intercourse  between  the  parties."  Under  this  head  he 
soon  reached  the  proposal  that  the  support  of  foreign 
missions  be  provided  by  the  East  alone,  the  West  be- 
ing excused  from  participation,  while  aided  by  the 
East  in  home  frontier  work.  The  effectuating  of  this 
pamphlet  would  have  been  the  extinction  of  the  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Missionary  Union,  with  nothing  provided  to 
take  its  place,  except  single  churches  and  local  combina- 
tions, about  1861.  instead  of  what  did  occur  at  that 
time.  Doctor  Wayland's  pamphlet  reveals  no  recogni- 
tion of  the  possibility  of  that  admittance  of  the  people 
into  closer  contact  with  the  Union,  then  so  far  advanced 
that  it  was  substantially  accomplished. — Page  43. 

(16)  The  five  societies  that  induced  and  supported  the 
founding  of  the  Pennsylvania  General  Association  were 
all  in  or  near  Philadelphia,  and  were  auxiliaries  of  the 
Philadelphia  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  which  had 
come  from  1804,  but  the  auxiliaries  were  of  recent  ori- 
gin.—Page  57. 


172  NOTES 

(17)  The  original  privilege  to  change  the  constitution 
at  any  annual  meeting  without  notice,  which  had  been 
given  to  two-thirds  of  the  members  present,  had  been 
withdrawn  about  1850,  and  the  provision  for  one  year's 
notice  substituted.  This  was  continued  in  1855. — Page 
64. 

(18)  Article  III  of  the  Southern  Convention  was  as 
follows  in  full:  "A  Triennial  Convention  shall  consist  of 
members  who  contribute  funds,  or  are  delegated  by  re- 
ligious bodies  contributing  funds,  and  the  system  of  rep- 
resentation and  terms  of  membership  shall  be  as  follows, 
viz:  An  annual  contribution  of  one  hundred  dollars  for 
three  years  next  preceding  the  meeting,  or  the  contri- 
bution of  three  hundred  dollars  at  any  time  within 
the  said  three  years  shall  entitle  the  contributor  to 
one  representative;  an  annual  contribution  of  two 
hundred  dollars,  as  aforesaid,  shall  entitle  the  con- 
tributor to  two  representatives;  and  so,  for  each  addi- 
tional one  hundred  dollars,  an  additional  representative 
shall  be  allowed.  Provided,  however,  that  when  ap- 
plication shall  be  made  for  the  first  time  by  bodies,  or 
individuals,  to  be  admitted  into  the  Convention,  one 
delegate  shall  be  allowed  for  each  one  hundred  dollars. 
And  provided,  also,  that  in  case  of  great  collateral  so- 
cieties, composed  of  representatives  receiving  contribu- 
tions from  different  parts  of  the  country,  the  ratio  of 
representation  shall  be  one  delegate  for  every  thousand 
dollars,  annually  contributed  for  three  years,  as  afore- 
said; but  the  number  of  representatives  shall  never  ex- 
ceed five." — Page  80. 

(19)  That  the  Convention  producing  this  communica- 
tion represented  a  significant  constituency  is  beyond 
question.  Why  the  movement  lapsed  permanently  at 
once  is  not  clear,  but  those  who  are  perplexed  by  it,  and 


NOTES  173 

sufficiently  interested  in  it,  may  well  consider  that  the 
way  in  which  the  committee  reported  was  final,  unless 
the  subject  should  be  taken  up  afresh;  that  the  mana- 
ging bodies  probably  had  not  much  sympathy  with  some 
parts  of  the  tendency  indicated;  that  two  of  the  Societies 
were  in  the  midst  of  a  considerable  revision  of  their 
own  constitutions  on  points  of  administration,  and 
were  naturally  disposed  to  get  that  business  out  of  the 
way  without  embarrassment  from  the  other,  these  re- 
visions generally  being  in  the  direction  of  the  popular 
pressure;  that  the  third,  the  Publication  Society,  re- 
sponded to  the  Convention's  desire  concerning  the 
union  of  the  two  Bible  societies,  promptly  opening  com- 
munication with  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety; and  that  the  Civil  War  soon  absorbed  the  atten- 
tion of  all  parties. — Page  96. 

(20)  In  connection  with  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
Societies  in  1901,  a  mass  meeting  of  all  of  them  was 
held,  in  which  discussions  followed  the  lines  of  the  re- 
port here  mentioned.  Similar  mass  meetings  in  other 
years  of  this  decade  strongly  influenced  both  tendencies 
and  results. — Page  99. 

(21)  The  principle  here  maintained  seems  to  the 
writer  to  be  applicable  as  closely  on  all  fields  as  is 
necessary  for  the  preservation  in  all  denominational 
work  of  all  denominational  principles.  That  its  modifi- 
cation, and  possible  abandonment,  will  come  first  in 
missions,  foreign  leading  and  home  following,  is  in- 
tensely indicated  by  present  manifestations.  But  are 
we  justified  in  any  affiliation  in  missions  that  we  are 
not  prepared  to  accept  in  evangelization  and  other 
church  activities  at  home?  Are  not  our  obligations  to 
be  accurate  and  inflexible  in  interpreting  and  applying 
our  loyalty  precisely  the  same  there  as  here?   Are  we  not 


174  NOTES 

in  danger  of  pushing  or  drifting  into  a  dualism  of  char- 
acter, in  evangelism  and  construction,  the  parallel  to 
which  in  business  and  politics  would  be  called  immoral? 
This  is  recognized  as  a  searching  question,  and  it  is 
pressed  as  a  pertinent  question.  The  tests  and  the  perils 
at  this  point  that  seem  to  be  opening  before  us  are  as 
subtle  as  they  are  serious,  and  we  should  gladly  be  con- 
strained to  gird  up  the  loins  of  our  minds  to  the  logic 
of  loyalty  and  the  loyalty  of  logic. — Page  119. 

(22)  The  debaters  in  these  fields  sometimes  become 
so  absorbed  in  the  discussion  that  they  leave  Baptist 
ground  without  seeming  to  know  it.  When  they  quote 
these  political  maxims — delegated  authority  cannot  be 
delegated,  representation  involves  taxation,  etc.,  they 
seem  to  forget  that  these  are  legislative  terms,  that  a 
Baptist  church  has  no  legislative  authority,  and  if  it 
had  it  does  not  recognize  a  political  dictum  as  having 
any  authority  over  it.  Stay  on  Baptist  ground  in  eccle- 
siastical fundamentals,  and  a  great  part  of  these  discus- 
sions end  before  they  begin,  for  these  fundamentals 
take  the  breath  of  life  out  of  them.  Baptists  can,  indeed, 
lose  their  liberty  to  a  general  organization,  but  they  are 
not  in  danger  of  doing  so  while  they  stay  on  their  own 
ground,  build  on  their  own  foundation,  and  guard  their 
own  premises.  Their  danger  comes  when  they  aposta- 
tize sufficiently  to  put  into  the  hands  of  such  organiza- 
tion the  business  that  they  ought  to  keep  in  their  own 
hands  through  the  churches.  And  that  is  what  is  done 
by  those  who  establish  a  convention  "  composed  of  in- 
dividuals," who  neither  represent  the  people  nor  are 
responsible  to  them,  and  then  place  under  this  authority 
the  missions  supported  by  the  churches. — Page  121. 

(23)  Once  already  in  the  Northern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion the  peril  has  been  recognized  of  too  large  attend- 


NOTES  175 

ance.  What  was  the  response?  Drop  the  Associatioas. 
Once  at  least  in  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  tlie 
same  problem  has  produced  the  same  response.  In 
both  instances  this  solution  seems  to  have  been  adopted 
without  much  consideration.  But  it  involves  the  era- 
sure of  the  only  possible  basis  of  an  approximately 
democratic  representation  without  the  peril,  if  not  the 
certainty,  of  an  unwieldy  body.  Can  we  not  furnish 
better  "statesmanship"  than  that?  Ought  we  not  to 
be  able  to  foresee  that  a  liberal,  direct  church  represen- 
tation, in  a  general  convention  of  popular  interest,  with 
present  facilities  for  assembling,  must  necessarily  bring 
too  many  people  for  practical  utility  in  the  business  of 
the  convention?  Recall  that  in  1872,  Pros.  Martin  B. 
Anderson  thought  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Union  too  large,  and  called  for  a  reduction  in 
the  attendance,  "  so  as  to  secure  a  comparatively  small 
body  for  deliberation."  and  "  a  series  of  mass  meetings, 
for  several  days  in  succession,  at  various  points  in  our 
country,"  in  place  of  the  popular  elements  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Union.  His  plea  was  recognized,  referred, 
and  "smothered."  If  it  was  pertinent  then  it  is  vastly 
more  pertinent  now.  Soberly,  fathers  and  brethren,  is 
our  delectation  over  the  "great  convention" — great 
meaning  big — creditable  to  our  intelligence?  For  popu- 
lar effects,  for  education,  encouragement,  and  enthu- 
siasm, yes;  but  for  deliberation  and  direction,  no. — Page 
141. 

(24)  The  position  taken  in  the  text  concerning  the 
superior  knowledge  and  wisdom  of  the  managers  may 
be  fairly  open  to  modification.  God  reveals  his  mind  to 
those  like  minded  with  himself.  Wisdom  in  spiritual 
things  predominates  in  those,  other  things  equal,  who 
are  predominantly  in  harmony  with  God;  and  harmony 
with  God  is  not  conditioned  on  natural  powers.     The 


176  NOTES 

pure  in  heart  see  God  and  the  poor  in  spirit  have  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Many  people  who  are  not  man- 
agers have  as  good  sense  naturally  as  the  managers 
have,  and  they  are  better  judges  of  missionary  prob- 
lems in  proportion,  as  they  have  more  of  the  mind  of 
Christ.  A  prayer  meeting  of  plain  men  or  women  may 
get  nearer  the  throne,  and  so  receive  more  light  on  the 
way  of  the  kingdom  than  the  Board  has.  God  is  not 
pleased  when  a  man  is  honored  in  spiritual  adminis- 
tration because  he  has  political  influence  or  much 
money.  These  observations  are  in  close  connection 
with  some  of  the  greatest  perils  of  missions. — Page  143. 

(25)  A  thought  does  not  appear  distinctly  or  defi- 
nitely under  the  practical  plea  for  the  popular  basis, 
which  should  run  in  solution  through  the  whole  of  that 
section.  It  is  the  thought  of  the  close  relation  between  the 
recognition  of  the  people  and  their  education  in  all  mis- 
sionary problems.  This  relation  is  very  intimate,  deli- 
cate, and  potent.  It  is  pervasive,  persistent,  and  cumu- 
lative in  its  effects.  It  cannot  be  adequately  traced, 
still  less  tabulated,  but  its  fruitage  is  widespread,  va- 
rious, and  eminently  valuable.  We  have  a  multitude  of 
Baptists  in  the  United  States  who  could  quickly  be 
qualified  for  efficiency  in  the  higher  places  of  our  mis- 
sionary administration,  if  only  their  attention  were 
thoroughly  centered  on  the  work.  Is  it  a  dream  that 
we  may  have  a  multitudinous  constituency  contribu- 
ting and  praying  in  that  large  and  high  equipment? — 
Page  148. 


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